Finite Math Examples

$\frac{\frac{2 a}{a + b} - \frac{b}{b - a} - \frac{b^{2}}{a^{2} - b^{2}}}{\frac{1}{a + b} + \frac{a}{a^{2} - b^{2}}}$

Step 1

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 $b = b$ .

$\frac{\frac{2 a}{a + b} - \frac{b}{b - a} - \frac{b^{2}}{(a + b) (a - b)}}{\frac{1}{a + b} + \frac{a}{a^{2} - b^{2}}}$

Step 2

To write $\frac{2 a}{a + b}$ as a fraction with a common denominator, multiply by $\frac{b - a}{b - a}$ .

$\frac{\frac{2 a}{a + b} \cdot \frac{b - a}{b - a} - \frac{b}{b - a} - \frac{b^{2}}{(a + b) (a - b)}}{\frac{1}{a + b} + \frac{a}{a^{2} - b^{2}}}$

Step 3

To write $- \frac{b}{b - a}$ as a fraction with a common denominator, multiply by $\frac{a + b}{a + b}$ .

$\frac{\frac{2 a}{a + b} \cdot \frac{b - a}{b - a} - \frac{b}{b - a} \cdot \frac{a + b}{a + b} - \frac{b^{2}}{(a + b) (a - b)}}{\frac{1}{a + b} + \frac{a}{a^{2} - b^{2}}}$

Step 4

Write each expression with a common denominator of $(a + b) (b - a)$ , by multiplying each by an appropriate factor of $1$ .

Tap for more steps...

Step 4.1

Multiply $\frac{2 a}{a + b}$ by $\frac{b - a}{b - a}$ .

$\frac{\frac{2 a (b - a)}{(a + b) (b - a)} - \frac{b}{b - a} \cdot \frac{a + b}{a + b} - \frac{b^{2}}{(a + b) (a - b)}}{\frac{1}{a + b} + \frac{a}{a^{2} - b^{2}}}$

Step 4.2

Multiply $\frac{b}{b - a}$ by $\frac{a + b}{a + b}$ .

$\frac{\frac{2 a (b - a)}{(a + b) (b - a)} - \frac{b (a + b)}{(b - a) (a + b)} - \frac{b^{2}}{(a + b) (a - b)}}{\frac{1}{a + b} + \frac{a}{a^{2} - b^{2}}}$

Step 4.3

Reorder the factors of $(b - a) (a + b)$ .

$\frac{\frac{2 a (b - a)}{(a + b) (b - a)} - \frac{b (a + b)}{(a + b) (b - a)} - \frac{b^{2}}{(a + b) (a - b)}}{\frac{1}{a + b} + \frac{a}{a^{2} - b^{2}}}$

Step 5

Combine the numerators over the common denominator.

$\frac{\frac{2 a (b - a) - b (a + b)}{(a + b) (b - a)} - \frac{b^{2}}{(a + b) (a - b)}}{\frac{1}{a + b} + \frac{a}{a^{2} - b^{2}}}$

Step 6

To write $\frac{1}{a + b}$ as a fraction with a common denominator, multiply by $\frac{a^{2} - b^{2}}{a^{2} - b^{2}}$ .

$\frac{\frac{2 a (b - a) - b (a + b)}{(a + b) (b - a)} - \frac{b^{2}}{(a + b) (a - b)}}{\frac{1}{a + b} \cdot \frac{a^{2} - b^{2}}{a^{2} - b^{2}} + \frac{a}{a^{2} - b^{2}}}$

Step 7

To write $\frac{a}{a^{2} - b^{2}}$ as a fraction with a common denominator, multiply by $\frac{a + b}{a + b}$ .

$\frac{\frac{2 a (b - a) - b (a + b)}{(a + b) (b - a)} - \frac{b^{2}}{(a + b) (a - b)}}{\frac{1}{a + b} \cdot \frac{a^{2} - b^{2}}{a^{2} - b^{2}} + \frac{a}{a^{2} - b^{2}} \cdot \frac{a + b}{a + b}}$

Step 8

Write each expression with a common denominator of $(a + b) (a^{2} - b^{2})$ , by multiplying each by an appropriate factor of $1$ .

Tap for more steps...

Step 8.1

Multiply $\frac{1}{a + b}$ by $\frac{a^{2} - b^{2}}{a^{2} - b^{2}}$ .

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

Step 8.2

Multiply $\frac{a}{a^{2} - b^{2}}$ by $\frac{a + b}{a + b}$ .

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

Step 8.3

Reorder the factors of $(a^{2} - b^{2}) (a + b)$ .

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

Step 9

Combine the numerators over the common denominator.

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

Step 10

Rewrite $\frac{a^{2} - b^{2} + a (a + b)}{(a + b) (a^{2} - b^{2})}$ in a factored form.

Tap for more steps...

Step 10.1

Apply the distributive property.

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

Step 10.2

Multiply $a$ by $a$ .

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

Step 10.3

Add $a^{2}$ and $a^{2}$ .

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

Step 10.4

Factor by grouping.

Tap for more steps...

Step 10.4.1

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 $a \cdot c = 2 \cdot - 1 = - 2$ and whose sum is $b = 1$ .

Tap for more steps...

Step 10.4.1.1

Reorder $- b^{2}$ and $a b$ .

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

Step 10.4.1.2

Factor $1$ out of $a b$ .

$\frac{\frac{2 a (b - a) - b (a + b)}{(a + b) (b - a)} - \frac{b^{2}}{(a + b) (a - b)}}{\frac{2 a^{2} + 1 (a b) - b^{2}}{(a + b) (a^{2} - b^{2})}}$

Step 10.4.1.3

Rewrite $1$ as $- 1$ plus $2$

$\frac{\frac{2 a (b - a) - b (a + b)}{(a + b) (b - a)} - \frac{b^{2}}{(a + b) (a - b)}}{\frac{2 a^{2} + (- 1 + 2) (a b) - b^{2}}{(a + b) (a^{2} - b^{2})}}$

Step 10.4.1.4

Apply the distributive property.

$\frac{\frac{2 a (b - a) - b (a + b)}{(a + b) (b - a)} - \frac{b^{2}}{(a + b) (a - b)}}{\frac{2 a^{2} - 1 (a b) + 2 (a b) - b^{2}}{(a + b) (a^{2} - b^{2})}}$

Step 10.4.1.5

Remove unnecessary parentheses.

$\frac{\frac{2 a (b - a) - b (a + b)}{(a + b) (b - a)} - \frac{b^{2}}{(a + b) (a - b)}}{\frac{2 a^{2} - 1 a b + 2 (a b) - b^{2}}{(a + b) (a^{2} - b^{2})}}$

Step 10.4.1.6

Remove unnecessary parentheses.

$\frac{\frac{2 a (b - a) - b (a + b)}{(a + b) (b - a)} - \frac{b^{2}}{(a + b) (a - b)}}{\frac{2 a^{2} - 1 a b + 2 a b - b^{2}}{(a + b) (a^{2} - b^{2})}}$

Step 10.4.2

Factor out the greatest common factor from each group.

Tap for more steps...

Step 10.4.2.1

Group the first two terms and the last two terms.

$\frac{\frac{2 a (b - a) - b (a + b)}{(a + b) (b - a)} - \frac{b^{2}}{(a + b) (a - b)}}{\frac{(2 a^{2} - 1 a b) + 2 a b - b^{2}}{(a + b) (a^{2} - b^{2})}}$

Step 10.4.2.2

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

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

Step 10.4.3

Factor the polynomial by factoring out the greatest common factor, $2 a - b$ .

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

Step 10.5

Factor.

Tap for more steps...

Step 10.5.1

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 $b = b$ .

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

Step 10.5.2

Remove unnecessary parentheses.

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

Step 10.6

Combine exponents.

Tap for more steps...

Step 10.6.1

Raise $a + b$ to the power of $1$ .

$\frac{\frac{2 a (b - a) - b (a + b)}{(a + b) (b - a)} - \frac{b^{2}}{(a + b) (a - b)}}{\frac{(2 a - b) (a + b)}{{(a + b)}^{1} (a + b) (a - b)}}$

Step 10.6.2

Raise $a + b$ to the power of $1$ .

$\frac{\frac{2 a (b - a) - b (a + b)}{(a + b) (b - a)} - \frac{b^{2}}{(a + b) (a - b)}}{\frac{(2 a - b) (a + b)}{{(a + b)}^{1} {(a + b)}^{1} (a - b)}}$

Step 10.6.3

Use the power rule $a^{m} a^{n} = a^{m + n}$ to combine exponents.

$\frac{\frac{2 a (b - a) - b (a + b)}{(a + b) (b - a)} - \frac{b^{2}}{(a + b) (a - b)}}{\frac{(2 a - b) (a + b)}{{(a + b)}^{1 + 1} (a - b)}}$

Step 10.6.4

Add $1$ and $1$ .

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

Step 10.7

Reduce the expression $\frac{(2 a - b) (a + b)}{{(a + b)}^{2} (a - b)}$ by cancelling the common factors.

Tap for more steps...

Step 10.7.1

Factor $a + b$ out of $(2 a - b) (a + b)$ .

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

Step 10.7.2

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

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

Step 10.7.3

Cancel the common factor.

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

Step 10.7.4

Rewrite the expression.

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