Basic Math Examples

$\frac{a^{2} - 2 a b + b^{2}}{a^{2} - b^{2}}$

Step 1

Factor using the perfect square rule.

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Step 1.1

Check that the middle term is two times the product of the numbers being squared in the first term and third term.

$2 a b = 2 \cdot a \cdot b$

Step 1.2

Rewrite the polynomial.

$\frac{a^{2} - 2 \cdot a \cdot b + b^{2}}{a^{2} - b^{2}}$

Step 1.3

Factor using the perfect square trinomial rule $a^{2} - 2 a b + b^{2} = {(a - b)}^{2}$ , where $a = a$ and $b = b$ .

$\frac{{(a - b)}^{2}}{a^{2} - b^{2}}$

Step 2

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

$\frac{{(a - b)}^{2}}{(a + b) (a - b)}$

Step 3

Cancel the common factor of ${(a - b)}^{2}$ and $a - b$ .

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Step 3.1

Factor $a - b$ out of ${(a - b)}^{2}$ .

$\frac{(a - b) (a - b)}{(a + b) (a - b)}$

Step 3.2

Cancel the common factors.

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Step 3.2.1

Factor $a - b$ out of $(a + b) (a - b)$ .

$\frac{(a - b) (a - b)}{(a - b) (a + b)}$

Step 3.2.2

Cancel the common factor.

$\frac{(a - b) (a - b)}{(a - b) (a + b)}$

Step 3.2.3

Rewrite the expression.

$\frac{a - b}{a + b}$