00:01
Let's solve for x in this equation.
00:02
Before we begin, i'm going to do two things.
00:04
The first is to simplify the rightmost denominator.
00:07
So this is actually a quadratic, meaning it could be factored, and it factors out into x minus 2 times x plus 2, which is very useful because it's the product of the other two denominators.
00:20
Now, the second thing i'm going to do is determine which values are unacceptable answers.
00:25
That is, we're not allowed to have an answer that would make us divide by 0, because dividing by zero is simply not allowed in mathematics.
00:32
So what answers of x would cause that? well, here it would be if x is positive 2, and here it would be if x is negative 2.
00:40
And right here it would be either.
00:42
So, x equals positive or negative 2 are both completely unacceptable answers, but everything else is all right.
00:49
Now that that's been established, let's begin to solve.
00:52
The first step is to multiply everything on both sides by the lowest common denominator of x minus 2 times x plus 2...