Question

Simplify. Express your answer as a single fraction in simplest form.
a+10–
a
a2–40a+49



Answers

GPT-4o mini
To simplify the expression \( \frac{a+10-a}{a^2 - 40a + 49} \), we first combine the terms in the numerator:

\[
a + 10 - a = 10.
\]

Next, we need to factor the denominator, \( a^2 - 40a + 49 \). We can attempt to factor it as a quadratic expression. To do this, we look for two numbers that multiply to \( 49 \) and add up to \( -40 \). The quadratic can be factored as follows:

\[
a^2 - 40a + 49 = (a - 1)(a - 39).
\]

Now the expression becomes:

\[
\frac{10}{(a - 1)(a - 39)}.
\]

Therefore, the simplified expression in its simplest form is:

\[
\boxed{\frac{10}{(a - 1)(a - 39)}}.
\]

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