College Algeebrahhh
 

(x^2+3)^3(2x)-x^2(3)(x^2+2)^2(2x)
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[(x^2+2)^3]^2


Okay, I was looking in the solutions manual and the second step was:
(x^2+2)^2(2x)[(x^2+2)^1-x^2(3)]
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(x^2+2)^6

Okay, so the (x^2+2)^3's got subtracted...but there's only one 2x.
What happened to the other? Shouldn't they have been subtracted too? It looks throughout the whole problem the one 2x stays. Why is this? :/
Thanks in advance!!

Re: College Algeebrahhh
 

It's called the distributive property.

(x^2+3)^3(2x)-x^2(3)(x^2+2)^2(2x) means you have, say, a*b-a*c and you're bringing out the a's so you're rewriting it as a*(b-c).

In this case, think of "a" as (x^2+2)^2(2x) because it's found in both sides of the term on the numerator.

Re: College Algeebrahhh
 

Ohhhh okay. Thanks so much! =)