How do you simplify #(16x^3 - 32x^2 + 8x)/(4x)#?

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Answer 1 · 2016-07-17T10:00:05

#4x^2 - 8x + 2#

There are 2 main approaches....

Factorise the numerator, or separate the fraction into 3 separate fractions and simplify each. Both methods will give the same result.

Method 1.

#(16x^3 - 32x^2 + 8x)/(4x) = [4x(4x^2 - 8x + 2)]/(4x)#

= #[cancel(4x)(4x^2 - 8x + 2)]/cancel(4x)" Note, we did not use the HCF"#

=#4x^2 - 8x + 2#

Method 2.

#(16x^3)/(4x) - (32x^2)/(4x) + (8x)/(4x)#

=#4x^2 - 8x + 2#