No it doesn't! Here's what you did, and it's a no-no!You cannot cancel something that is ADDED in the numerator into anything in the denominator, and you cannot cancel anything in the denominator that is ADDED into anything in the numerator. The only time you can cancel something in the numerator into something in the denominator is when they are only MULTIPLIED You might try factoring the numerator and denominator first: Take 5 out of the numerator, and 6 out of the denominator: But what's in the parentheses will not factor. That's as far as you can go. Edwin