Algebra Examples

$\frac{x^{2} - x - 6}{2 x^{2} + x - 6} \cdot \frac{2 x^{2} + 5 x - 12}{x^{2} - 9}$

Step 1

Factor $x^{2} - x - 6$ using the AC method.

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Step 1.1

Consider the form $x^{2} + b x + c$ . Find a pair of integers whose product is $c$ and whose sum is $b$ . In this case, whose product is $- 6$ and whose sum is $- 1$ .

$- 3, 2$

Step 1.2

Write the factored form using these integers.

$\frac{(x - 3) (x + 2)}{2 x^{2} + x - 6} \cdot \frac{2 x^{2} + 5 x - 12}{x^{2} - 9}$

Step 2

Factor by grouping.

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Step 2.1

For a polynomial of the form $a x^{2} + b x + c$ , rewrite the middle term as a sum of two terms whose product is $a \cdot c = 2 \cdot - 6 = - 12$ and whose sum is $b = 1$ .

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Step 2.1.1

Multiply by $1$ .

$\frac{(x - 3) (x + 2)}{2 x^{2} + 1 x - 6} \cdot \frac{2 x^{2} + 5 x - 12}{x^{2} - 9}$

Step 2.1.2

Rewrite $1$ as $- 3$ plus $4$

$\frac{(x - 3) (x + 2)}{2 x^{2} + (- 3 + 4) x - 6} \cdot \frac{2 x^{2} + 5 x - 12}{x^{2} - 9}$

Step 2.1.3

Apply the distributive property.

$\frac{(x - 3) (x + 2)}{2 x^{2} - 3 x + 4 x - 6} \cdot \frac{2 x^{2} + 5 x - 12}{x^{2} - 9}$

Step 2.2

Factor out the greatest common factor from each group.

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Step 2.2.1

Group the first two terms and the last two terms.

$\frac{(x - 3) (x + 2)}{(2 x^{2} - 3 x) + 4 x - 6} \cdot \frac{2 x^{2} + 5 x - 12}{x^{2} - 9}$

Step 2.2.2

Factor out the greatest common factor (GCF) from each group.

$\frac{(x - 3) (x + 2)}{x (2 x - 3) + 2 (2 x - 3)} \cdot \frac{2 x^{2} + 5 x - 12}{x^{2} - 9}$

Step 2.3

Factor the polynomial by factoring out the greatest common factor, $2 x - 3$ .

$\frac{(x - 3) (x + 2)}{(2 x - 3) (x + 2)} \cdot \frac{2 x^{2} + 5 x - 12}{x^{2} - 9}$

Step 3

Factor by grouping.

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Step 3.1

For a polynomial of the form $a x^{2} + b x + c$ , rewrite the middle term as a sum of two terms whose product is $a \cdot c = 2 \cdot - 12 = - 24$ and whose sum is $b = 5$ .

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Step 3.1.1

Factor $5$ out of $5 x$ .

$\frac{(x - 3) (x + 2)}{(2 x - 3) (x + 2)} \cdot \frac{2 x^{2} + 5 (x) - 12}{x^{2} - 9}$

Step 3.1.2

Rewrite $5$ as $- 3$ plus $8$

$\frac{(x - 3) (x + 2)}{(2 x - 3) (x + 2)} \cdot \frac{2 x^{2} + (- 3 + 8) x - 12}{x^{2} - 9}$

Step 3.1.3

Apply the distributive property.

$\frac{(x - 3) (x + 2)}{(2 x - 3) (x + 2)} \cdot \frac{2 x^{2} - 3 x + 8 x - 12}{x^{2} - 9}$

Step 3.2

Factor out the greatest common factor from each group.

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Step 3.2.1

Group the first two terms and the last two terms.

$\frac{(x - 3) (x + 2)}{(2 x - 3) (x + 2)} \cdot \frac{(2 x^{2} - 3 x) + 8 x - 12}{x^{2} - 9}$

Step 3.2.2

Factor out the greatest common factor (GCF) from each group.

$\frac{(x - 3) (x + 2)}{(2 x - 3) (x + 2)} \cdot \frac{x (2 x - 3) + 4 (2 x - 3)}{x^{2} - 9}$

Step 3.3

Factor the polynomial by factoring out the greatest common factor, $2 x - 3$ .

$\frac{(x - 3) (x + 2)}{(2 x - 3) (x + 2)} \cdot \frac{(2 x - 3) (x + 4)}{x^{2} - 9}$

Step 4

Simplify the denominator.

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Step 4.1

Rewrite $9$ as $3^{2}$ .

$\frac{(x - 3) (x + 2)}{(2 x - 3) (x + 2)} \cdot \frac{(2 x - 3) (x + 4)}{x^{2} - 3^{2}}$

Step 4.2

Since both terms are perfect squares, factor using the difference of squares formula, $a^{2} - b^{2} = (a + b) (a - b)$ where $a = x$ and $b = 3$ .

$\frac{(x - 3) (x + 2)}{(2 x - 3) (x + 2)} \cdot \frac{(2 x - 3) (x + 4)}{(x + 3) (x - 3)}$

Step 5

Simplify terms.

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Step 5.1

Cancel the common factor of $x - 3$ .

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Step 5.1.1

Factor $x - 3$ out of $(x + 3) (x - 3)$ .

$\frac{(x - 3) (x + 2)}{(2 x - 3) (x + 2)} \cdot \frac{(2 x - 3) (x + 4)}{(x - 3) (x + 3)}$

Step 5.1.2

Cancel the common factor.

$\frac{(x - 3) (x + 2)}{(2 x - 3) (x + 2)} \cdot \frac{(2 x - 3) (x + 4)}{(x - 3) (x + 3)}$

Step 5.1.3

Rewrite the expression.

$\frac{x + 2}{(2 x - 3) (x + 2)} \cdot \frac{(2 x - 3) (x + 4)}{x + 3}$

Step 5.2

Cancel the common factor of $2 x - 3$ .

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Step 5.2.1

Cancel the common factor.

$\frac{x + 2}{(2 x - 3) (x + 2)} \cdot \frac{(2 x - 3) (x + 4)}{x + 3}$

Step 5.2.2

Rewrite the expression.

$\frac{x + 2}{x + 2} \cdot \frac{x + 4}{x + 3}$

Step 5.3

Multiply $\frac{x + 2}{x + 2}$ by $\frac{x + 4}{x + 3}$ .

$\frac{(x + 2) (x + 4)}{(x + 2) (x + 3)}$

Step 5.4

Cancel the common factor of $x + 2$ .

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Step 5.4.1

Cancel the common factor.

$\frac{(x + 2) (x + 4)}{(x + 2) (x + 3)}$

Step 5.4.2

Rewrite the expression.

$\frac{x + 4}{x + 3}$