Question

How do you simplify `(x^2 + 4x +4)/(x^2 + 7x +10) *( x^2 + 5x)/(x^2 + 6x + 8 )`?

Answer 1

You first factorise and see what you can cancel

Explanation:

`=((x+2)^2)/((x+2)(x+5))*(x(x+5))/((x+2)(x+4))`

We first note the restrictions `x!=-2andx!=-4andx!=-5`
as this would make denominator(s) `=0`

Now we can cancel:

`=(cancel((x+2))(x+2))/(cancel((x+2))(x+5))*(x(x+5))/((x+2)(x+4))`

`=(xcancel((x+2))cancel((x+5)))/(cancel((x+2))(x+4)cancel((x+5)))`

`=x/(x+4)`