Question

Answer these questions about the steps of simplifying this rational expression: 4x-8/x^2+3x-10 Part A What is the greatest common factor (GCF) of the terms in the numerator and in the denominator? Rewrite the expression by factoring out the GCF.

Answer 1

The terms in the denominator have a GCF of 1, so nothing gets pulled out in the denominator. The GCF of the terms in the numerator is 4.

Explanation:

Answer 2

GCF: (x - 2)

4 / (x + 5)

Explanation:

The expression given is:

(4x - 8) / (x² + 3x - 10)

To find the greatest common factor, we have to factorise the numerator and denominator individually.

NUMERATOR:

4x - 8 = 4(x - 2)

DENOMINATOR:

x² + 3x - 10 = x² + 5x - 2x - 10

x² + 3x - 10 = x(x + 5) - 2(x + 5)

x² + 3x - 10 = (x - 2) ( x + 5)

So, the expression becomes:

4(x - 2) / [(x - 2) ( x + 5)]

We observe that the common factor in both numerator ad denominator is (x - 2).

This is the greatest common factor (GCF).

Factoring out (x - 2), the expression can be rewritten as:

4 / (x + 5)