The other tutor's answer above is incorrect. The other tutor gave the
solution for
. The 2 and the 16 are not in
parentheses so they are not raised to those negative powers. Only x is
raised to those negative powers in your equation.
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Divide both sides by 2
Write the factors with negative exponents as denominator
factors with positive exponents:
Cross-multiply:
Get 0 on the right sides:
Factor out x³
,
,
0 is not a solution because 0 may only be raised to
positive powers, and the original has negative powers.
The second equation requires the factorization of the
difference of two cubes:
So there are three solutions
,
,
Edwin