8 8 ——————— - ——————— v - 5 5 - v The denominators are not the same. We must get them to be the same: The denominator on the left is in standard order but the denominator on the right is not. Here is what we do. To the side we work with that denominator only 5 - v Write it in descending order -v + 5 Write the -v as -1v -1v + 5 Factor out -1 -1(v - 5) Drop the 1 -(v - 5) Now replace the denominator 5 - v with -(v - 5) 8 8 ——————— - ———————— v - 5 -(v - 5) The minus sign before the second fraction and the negative sign on the right denominator is equivalent to just having a plus sign before the second fraction: 8 8 ——————— + ——————— v - 5 v - 5 Now the denominators are the same, so we add the numerators and place the sum over the common denominator 16 ——————— v - 5 Edwin