hi jiskha. how do you solve x-4/x+2 + 2/x-2 = 17/x^2-4? I factored it so it became x-4(x+2)(x-2)+2(x+2)(x-2)=17, but I don't know where to go from there. thanx!!

Answer 1

not quite,

multiply each term by x^2-4, realizing that x^2-4 = (x+2)(x-2)

so you would get

(x-4)(x-2) + 2(x+2) = 17
x^2 - 6x + 8 + 2x + 4 = 17
x^2 -4x - 5 = 0
(x-5)(x+1) = 0
x = 5 or x = -1