Precalculus Examples

$\frac{\frac{1}{a + h} - \frac{1}{a}}{h}$

Step 1

Simplify the numerator.

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Step 1.1

To write $\frac{1}{a + h}$ as a fraction with a common denominator, multiply by $\frac{a}{a}$ .

$\frac{\frac{1}{a + h} \cdot \frac{a}{a} - \frac{1}{a}}{h}$

Step 1.2

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

$\frac{\frac{1}{a + h} \cdot \frac{a}{a} - \frac{1}{a} \cdot \frac{a + h}{a + h}}{h}$

Step 1.3

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

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Step 1.3.1

Multiply $\frac{1}{a + h}$ by $\frac{a}{a}$ .

$\frac{\frac{a}{(a + h) a} - \frac{1}{a} \cdot \frac{a + h}{a + h}}{h}$

Step 1.3.2

Multiply $\frac{1}{a}$ by $\frac{a + h}{a + h}$ .

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

Step 1.3.3

Reorder the factors of $(a + h) a$ .

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

Step 1.4

Combine the numerators over the common denominator.

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

Step 1.5

Rewrite $\frac{a - (a + h)}{a (a + h)}$ in a factored form.

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Step 1.5.1

Apply the distributive property.

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

Step 1.5.2

Subtract $a$ from $a$ .

$\frac{\frac{0 - h}{a (a + h)}}{h}$

Step 1.5.3

Subtract $h$ from $0$ .

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

Step 1.6

Move the negative in front of the fraction.

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

Step 2

Multiply the numerator by the reciprocal of the denominator.

$- \frac{h}{a (a + h)} \cdot \frac{1}{h}$

Step 3

Cancel the common factor of $h$ .

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Step 3.1

Move the leading negative in $- \frac{h}{a (a + h)}$ into the numerator.

$\frac{- h}{a (a + h)} \cdot \frac{1}{h}$

Step 3.2

Factor $h$ out of $- h$ .

$\frac{h \cdot - 1}{a (a + h)} \cdot \frac{1}{h}$

Step 3.3

Cancel the common factor.

$\frac{h \cdot - 1}{a (a + h)} \cdot \frac{1}{h}$

Step 3.4

Rewrite the expression.

$\frac{- 1}{a (a + h)}$

Step 4

Move the negative in front of the fraction.

$- \frac{1}{a (a + h)}$