SOLUTION: a^2-7a-18/4a^3 divided by a^2-4a-45/2a^3-4a^2 times a^2+3a-10/a^2-4a+4

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Question 624262: a^2-7a-18/4a^3 divided by a^2-4a-45/2a^3-4a^2 times a^2+3a-10/a^2-4a+4
Answer by jsmallt9(3758)   (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!

To divide fractions we learn to change it to multiplication of the reciprocal. So this becomes:


Back in the "good old days", before we had variables in the fractions, we learned that, when you are multiplying fractions,Well not only is this still true with more complicated fractions, the advantages of "pre-multiplication" canceling are more important than ever!! So before we even think about multiplying these fractions together we want to cancel as many factors as we can. And to cancel factors we have to know what they are. So the next step is to factor each numerator and denominator as much as possible:
factored as a trinomial: (a-9)(a+2)
is already factored although we could factor the 4 and "factor out the exponent":
has a common factor of : or 2*a*a(a-2)
factored as a trinomial: (a-9)(a+5)
factored as a trinomial: (a+5)(a-2)
factored as a trinomial (or with the pattern): (a-2)(a-2)
Rewriting

with factored numerators and denominators:

We should see that we have quite a few factors to cancel out!

leaving:

which, you must agree, is much easier to multiply than
.
Multiplying out reduced fractions we get:

If we fully factored and canceled, then there should be no need to reduce after multiplying. And as you can see, there are no factors that will cancel here. (The "a" in the numerator is not a factor so you cannot cancel it with the "a" factor in the denominator.)

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