Pre-Algebra Examples

$\frac{\frac{\frac{p^{2} - 4 p - 5}{2 p^{2} - p - 1}}{p^{2} + p}}{p^{2} + p - 2}$

Step 1

Multiply the numerator by the reciprocal of the denominator.

$\frac{\frac{p^{2} - 4 p - 5}{2 p^{2} - p - 1}}{p^{2} + p} \cdot \frac{1}{p^{2} + p - 2}$

Step 2

Multiply the numerator by the reciprocal of the denominator.

$\frac{p^{2} - 4 p - 5}{2 p^{2} - p - 1} \cdot \frac{1}{p^{2} + p} \frac{1}{p^{2} + p - 2}$

Step 3

Factor $p^{2} - 4 p - 5$ using the AC method.

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Step 3.1

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 $- 5$ and whose sum is $- 4$ .

$- 5, 1$

Step 3.2

Write the factored form using these integers.

$\frac{(p - 5) (p + 1)}{2 p^{2} - p - 1} \cdot \frac{1}{p^{2} + p} \frac{1}{p^{2} + p - 2}$

Step 4

Factor by grouping.

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Step 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 $b = - 1$ .

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Step 4.1.1

Factor $- 1$ out of $- p$ .

$\frac{(p - 5) (p + 1)}{2 p^{2} - (p) - 1} \cdot \frac{1}{p^{2} + p} \frac{1}{p^{2} + p - 2}$

Step 4.1.2

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

$\frac{(p - 5) (p + 1)}{2 p^{2} + (1 - 2) p - 1} \cdot \frac{1}{p^{2} + p} \frac{1}{p^{2} + p - 2}$

Step 4.1.3

Apply the distributive property.

$\frac{(p - 5) (p + 1)}{2 p^{2} + 1 p - 2 p - 1} \cdot \frac{1}{p^{2} + p} \frac{1}{p^{2} + p - 2}$

Step 4.1.4

Multiply $p$ by $1$ .

$\frac{(p - 5) (p + 1)}{2 p^{2} + p - 2 p - 1} \cdot \frac{1}{p^{2} + p} \frac{1}{p^{2} + p - 2}$

Step 4.2

Factor out the greatest common factor from each group.

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Step 4.2.1

Group the first two terms and the last two terms.

$\frac{(p - 5) (p + 1)}{(2 p^{2} + p) - 2 p - 1} \cdot \frac{1}{p^{2} + p} \frac{1}{p^{2} + p - 2}$

Step 4.2.2

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

$\frac{(p - 5) (p + 1)}{p (2 p + 1) - (2 p + 1)} \cdot \frac{1}{p^{2} + p} \frac{1}{p^{2} + p - 2}$

Step 4.3

Factor the polynomial by factoring out the greatest common factor, $2 p + 1$ .

$\frac{(p - 5) (p + 1)}{(2 p + 1) (p - 1)} \cdot \frac{1}{p^{2} + p} \frac{1}{p^{2} + p - 2}$

Step 5

Factor $p$ out of $p^{2} + p$ .

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Step 5.1

Factor $p$ out of $p^{2}$ .

$\frac{(p - 5) (p + 1)}{(2 p + 1) (p - 1)} \cdot \frac{1}{p \cdot p + p} \frac{1}{p^{2} + p - 2}$

Step 5.2

Raise $p$ to the power of $1$ .

$\frac{(p - 5) (p + 1)}{(2 p + 1) (p - 1)} \cdot \frac{1}{p \cdot p + p^{1}} \frac{1}{p^{2} + p - 2}$

Step 5.3

Factor $p$ out of $p^{1}$ .

$\frac{(p - 5) (p + 1)}{(2 p + 1) (p - 1)} \cdot \frac{1}{p \cdot p + p \cdot 1} \frac{1}{p^{2} + p - 2}$

Step 5.4

Factor $p$ out of $p \cdot p + p \cdot 1$ .

$\frac{(p - 5) (p + 1)}{(2 p + 1) (p - 1)} \cdot \frac{1}{p (p + 1)} \frac{1}{p^{2} + p - 2}$

Step 6

Cancel the common factor of $p + 1$ .

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Step 6.1

Factor $p + 1$ out of $(p - 5) (p + 1)$ .

$\frac{(p + 1) (p - 5)}{(2 p + 1) (p - 1)} \cdot \frac{1}{p (p + 1)} \frac{1}{p^{2} + p - 2}$

Step 6.2

Factor $p + 1$ out of $p (p + 1)$ .

$\frac{(p + 1) (p - 5)}{(2 p + 1) (p - 1)} \cdot \frac{1}{(p + 1) p} \frac{1}{p^{2} + p - 2}$

Step 6.3

Cancel the common factor.

$\frac{(p + 1) (p - 5)}{(2 p + 1) (p - 1)} \cdot \frac{1}{(p + 1) p} \frac{1}{p^{2} + p - 2}$

Step 6.4

Rewrite the expression.

$\frac{p - 5}{(2 p + 1) (p - 1)} \cdot \frac{1}{p} \frac{1}{p^{2} + p - 2}$

Step 7

Multiply $\frac{p - 5}{(2 p + 1) (p - 1)}$ by $\frac{1}{p}$ .

$\frac{p - 5}{(2 p + 1) (p - 1) p} \cdot \frac{1}{p^{2} + p - 2}$

Step 8

Factor $p^{2} + p - 2$ using the AC method.

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Step 8.1

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 $- 2$ and whose sum is $1$ .

$- 1, 2$

Step 8.2

Write the factored form using these integers.

$\frac{p - 5}{(2 p + 1) (p - 1) p} \cdot \frac{1}{(p - 1) (p + 2)}$

Step 9

Multiply $\frac{p - 5}{(2 p + 1) (p - 1) p} \cdot \frac{1}{(p - 1) (p + 2)}$ .

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Step 9.1

Multiply $\frac{p - 5}{(2 p + 1) (p - 1) p}$ by $\frac{1}{(p - 1) (p + 2)}$ .

$\frac{p - 5}{(2 p + 1) (p - 1) p ((p - 1) (p + 2))}$

Step 9.2

Raise $p - 1$ to the power of $1$ .

$\frac{p - 5}{(2 p + 1) p ({(p - 1)}^{1} (p - 1) (p + 2))}$

Step 9.3

Raise $p - 1$ to the power of $1$ .

$\frac{p - 5}{(2 p + 1) p ({(p - 1)}^{1} {(p - 1)}^{1} (p + 2))}$

Step 9.4

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

$\frac{p - 5}{(2 p + 1) p ({(p - 1)}^{1 + 1} (p + 2))}$

Step 9.5

Add $1$ and $1$ .

$\frac{p - 5}{(2 p + 1) p ({(p - 1)}^{2} (p + 2))}$

Step 10

Simplify the denominator.

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Step 10.1

Rewrite.

$\frac{p - 5}{(2 p + 1) (p - 1) p ((p - 1) (p + 2))}$

Step 10.2

Raise $p - 1$ to the power of $1$ .

$\frac{p - 5}{(2 p + 1) p ({(p - 1)}^{1} (p - 1) (p + 2))}$

Step 10.3

Raise $p - 1$ to the power of $1$ .

$\frac{p - 5}{(2 p + 1) p ({(p - 1)}^{1} {(p - 1)}^{1} (p + 2))}$

Step 10.4

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

$\frac{p - 5}{(2 p + 1) p ({(p - 1)}^{1 + 1} (p + 2))}$

Step 10.5

Add $1$ and $1$ .

$\frac{p - 5}{(2 p + 1) p ({(p - 1)}^{2} (p + 2))}$

Step 10.6

Remove unnecessary parentheses.

$\frac{p - 5}{(2 p + 1) p {(p - 1)}^{2} (p + 2)}$

Step 11

Reorder factors in $\frac{p - 5}{(2 p + 1) p {(p - 1)}^{2} (p + 2)}$ .

$\frac{p - 5}{p (2 p + 1) {(p - 1)}^{2} (p + 2)}$

Step 12

Split the fraction $\frac{p - 5}{p (2 p + 1) {(p - 1)}^{2} (p + 2)}$ into two fractions.

$\frac{p}{p (2 p + 1) {(p - 1)}^{2} (p + 2)} + \frac{- 5}{p (2 p + 1) {(p - 1)}^{2} (p + 2)}$

Step 13

Cancel the common factor of $p$ .

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Step 13.1

Cancel the common factor.

$\frac{p}{p (2 p + 1) {(p - 1)}^{2} (p + 2)} + \frac{- 5}{p (2 p + 1) {(p - 1)}^{2} (p + 2)}$

Step 13.2

Rewrite the expression.

$\frac{1}{(2 p + 1) {(p - 1)}^{2} (p + 2)} + \frac{- 5}{p (2 p + 1) {(p - 1)}^{2} (p + 2)}$

Step 14

Move the negative in front of the fraction.

$\frac{1}{(2 p + 1) {(p - 1)}^{2} (p + 2)} - \frac{5}{p (2 p + 1) {(p - 1)}^{2} (p + 2)}$