Precalculus Examples

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

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 $b = b$ .

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

Step 2

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

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

Step 3

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

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

Step 4

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

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Step 4.1

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

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

Step 4.2

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

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

Step 4.3

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

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

Step 5

Combine the numerators over the common denominator.

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

Step 6

Simplify the numerator.

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Step 6.1

Expand $(a + b) (a - b)$ using the FOIL Method.

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Step 6.1.1

Apply the distributive property.

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

Step 6.1.2

Apply the distributive property.

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

Step 6.1.3

Apply the distributive property.

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

Step 6.2

Combine the opposite terms in $a \cdot a + a (- b) + b a + b (- b)$ .

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Step 6.2.1

Reorder the factors in the terms $a (- b)$ and $b a$ .

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

Step 6.2.2

Add $- a b$ and $a b$ .

$(a + b i) \frac{a (a \cdot a + 0 + b (- b)) - b i (a^{2} + b^{2})}{(a + b) (a - b) (a^{2} + b^{2})}$

Step 6.2.3

Add $a \cdot a$ and $0$ .

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

Step 6.3

Simplify each term.

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Step 6.3.1

Multiply $a$ by $a$ .

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

Step 6.3.2

Rewrite using the commutative property of multiplication.

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

Step 6.3.3

Multiply $b$ by $b$ by adding the exponents.

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Step 6.3.3.1

Move $b$ .

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

Step 6.3.3.2

Multiply $b$ by $b$ .

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

Step 6.4

Apply the distributive property.

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

Step 6.5

Multiply $a$ by $a^{2}$ by adding the exponents.

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Step 6.5.1

Multiply $a$ by $a^{2}$ .

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Step 6.5.1.1

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

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

Step 6.5.1.2

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

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

Step 6.5.2

Add $1$ and $2$ .

$(a + b i) \frac{a^{3} + a (- b^{2}) - b i (a^{2} + b^{2})}{(a + b) (a - b) (a^{2} + b^{2})}$

Step 6.6

Rewrite using the commutative property of multiplication.

$(a + b i) \frac{a^{3} - a b^{2} - b i (a^{2} + b^{2})}{(a + b) (a - b) (a^{2} + b^{2})}$

Step 6.7

Apply the distributive property.

$(a + b i) \frac{a^{3} - a b^{2} - b i a^{2} - b i b^{2}}{(a + b) (a - b) (a^{2} + b^{2})}$

Step 6.8

Multiply $b$ by $b^{2}$ by adding the exponents.

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Step 6.8.1

Move $b^{2}$ .

$(a + b i) \frac{a^{3} - a b^{2} - b i a^{2} - (b^{2} b) i}{(a + b) (a - b) (a^{2} + b^{2})}$

Step 6.8.2

Multiply $b^{2}$ by $b$ .

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Step 6.8.2.1

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

$(a + b i) \frac{a^{3} - a b^{2} - b i a^{2} - (b^{2} b^{1}) i}{(a + b) (a - b) (a^{2} + b^{2})}$

Step 6.8.2.2

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

$(a + b i) \frac{a^{3} - a b^{2} - b i a^{2} - b^{2 + 1} i}{(a + b) (a - b) (a^{2} + b^{2})}$

Step 6.8.3

Add $2$ and $1$ .

$(a + b i) \frac{a^{3} - a b^{2} - b i a^{2} - b^{3} i}{(a + b) (a - b) (a^{2} + b^{2})}$

Step 7

Multiply $a + b i$ by $\frac{a^{3} - a b^{2} - b i a^{2} - b^{3} i}{(a + b) (a - b) (a^{2} + b^{2})}$ .

$\frac{(a + b i) (a^{3} - a b^{2} - b i a^{2} - b^{3} i)}{(a + b) (a - b) (a^{2} + b^{2})}$