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## lindseyharrison Group Title What is the simplified form of x^2 - 16 / x + 4 one year ago one year ago Edit Question Delete Cancel Submit

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1. jim_thompson5910 Group Title
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Hint: x^2 - 16 x^2 - 4^2 (x-4)(x+4)

• one year ago
2. lindseyharrison Group Title
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x - 4, with the restriction x ≠ 4 x + 4, with the restriction x ≠ - 4 x - 4, with the restriction x ≠ - 4 x + 4, with the restriction x ≠ 4

• one year ago
3. jim_thompson5910 Group Title
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I'm using the difference of squares rule

• one year ago
4. lindseyharrison Group Title
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@jim_thompson5910 is it A?

• one year ago
5. jim_thompson5910 Group Title
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it is x-4, but the restriction is not x ≠ 4 since 4 is a perfectly valid input in the original expression

• one year ago
6. jim_thompson5910 Group Title
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x+4 = 0 x = -4 is the value that makes the denominator zero, so this is the restricted value

• one year ago
7. lindseyharrison Group Title
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So it would be C

• one year ago
8. jim_thompson5910 Group Title
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yes, it's C

• one year ago
9. moha_10 Group Title
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@jim_thompson5910 can u plz explain me more i'm confused

• one year ago
10. jim_thompson5910 Group Title
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which part are you confused about?

• one year ago
11. jim_thompson5910 Group Title
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if you want, you can ask the question in a separate post

• one year ago
12. moha_10 Group Title
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all

• one year ago
13. jim_thompson5910 Group Title
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$\Large \frac{x^2 - 16}{x+4}$ $\Large \frac{x^2 - 4^2}{x+4}$ $\Large \frac{(x-4)(x+4)}{x+4}$ $\Large \frac{(x-4)\cancel{(x+4)}}{\cancel{x+4}}$ $\Large x-4$ So $\Large \frac{x^2 - 16}{x+4}$ simplifies to $\Large x-4$ Keep in mind that x cannot equal -4 in the original expression. So for the two expressions to be completely equivalent, x cannot equal -4 in the final expression.

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