SOLUTION: can someone please! please! check this for me? I am suppose to simplify I hope i put this in the right section 3x over x-7 minus 21 over x-7 answer 3x-21/x-7 3(x-7)/

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Question 81544: can someone please! please! check this for me?
I am suppose to simplify
I hope i put this in the right section
3x
over
x-7
minus
21
over
x-7
answer
3x-21/x-7
3(x-7)/x-7
=3x/x-7
=21/x-7
Found 2 solutions by tutor_paul, bucky:
Answer by tutor_paul(519) (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!

Factoring out a 3 from the numerator is a good first step:

Now, you can legally cancel out the (x-7) terms in the numerator and denominator and you are left with:

Good Luck,
tutor_paul@yahoo.com

Answer by bucky(2189) (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Given:
.

.
Notice that both terms have the same denominator. Therefore, they can be combined by putting
both their numerators over the common denominator. When you do that you get:
.

.
Now notice that you can factor 3 out of the numerator to get:
.

.
Then notice that you have the factor common in both the numerator and the denominator.
Therefore, you can cancel them.
.

.
and you are left with just as the simplified form of the original problem.
.
Your answer was:
.
(3x-21)/(x-7) <--- OK here, but you should have used the parentheses that I added here
to make sure that anyone who read it could tell what your numerator and denominator
were. The way you wrote it actually should be read:
.
instead of which is what the parentheses tell you
.
3(x-7)/(x-7) <--- OK here. Note the parentheses in the denominator for clarity
.
All you had to do now was cancel the two (x - 7) terms to get the answer of 3. So you were OK
up to this point. Good job!
.
=3x/x-7 <---- No, this takes you back to the original form of the problem.
=21/x-7 <---- No, this also takes you back to what you started with.