Question

How do you simplify `(x^2-16)/(x^2-6x+8) * (5x-10)/(3x+12)`?

Answer 1

Before multiplying, it is always recommended that you factor everything to see what can be eliminated.

Explanation:

`((x + 4)(x - 4))/((x - 4)(x - 2)) xx (5(x - 2))/(3(x + 4))`

Since dividing a number by itself gives 1, we can eliminate the following.

`((cancel(x + 4))cancel((x - 4)))/((cancel(x - 4))(cancel(x - 2))) xx (5(cancel(x - 2))) /(3(cancel(x + 4)))`

We are left, simply, with `5/3`

Hopefully this helps!