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View Full Version : Dividing similar base w/ different exponents


nicpederson
Aug 9, 2009, 05:51 PM
the problem is

(10^8 - 10^2) / (10^7 - 10^3)


how do I simplify this without expanding?

Thanks

galactus
Aug 9, 2009, 06:00 PM
I got to go, but you could factor and use the difference of two squares.

\frac{10^{2}(10^{6}-1)}{10^{3}(10^{4}-1)}=\frac{10^{2}((10^{3})^{2}-1)}{10^{3}((10^{2})^{2}-1)}=\frac{(10^{3}+1)(10^{3}-1)}{10(10^{2}+1)(10^{2}-1)}

nicpederson
Aug 9, 2009, 08:57 PM
Thanks galactus... how do I quickly simplify to an answer of 10?