SOLUTION: Completely factor y16-y12. The 16 and 12 are supposed to represent sixteenths and twelfths.

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Question 77054: Completely factor y16-y12. The 16 and 12 are supposed to represent sixteenths and twelfths.
Answer by chitra(359) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
The given expression is:

y%5E16+-+y%5E12

This can be written as:

+%28%28y%5E8%29%5E2%29+-+%28%28y%5E6%29%5E2%29+

This above equation is of the form +a%5E2+-+b%5E2 which can be written as:

(a + b) * (a - b)


==> %28%28y%5E8%29+%2B+%28y%5E6%29%29+%2A+%28%28y%5E8%29+-+%28y%5E6%29%29+

Thus, the expansion.(complete factorisation)

Hence, the solution.