Verified answer

(8)/(a+8)

you have to factor

Factor the top and bottom as best you can. The top is easy.

(8a+8)

What can we pull out of this expression, to leave on the outside of the parentheses? Both 8a and 8 are divisible by 8, so we can pull out 8.

(8a+8) = 8(a+1)

The bottom part also needs to be factored, but it is harder.

a^2+9a+8

Think about how you would factor this. What two binomials could you multiply together to get this expression?

a^2+9a+8 = (a + ?) ( a + ??)

If you work through this by trial and error, you will find that this expression can be used to reproduce the original expression:

a^2+9a+8 = (a + 1) ( a + 8)

So, now we've factored the top and the bottom. Let's reassemble the original expression, but with our new factored numerator and denominator.

8(a+1)

(a + 1) ( a + 8)

Do you see anything that can cancel?

Both the top and the bottom have a + 1. Because (a+1)/(a+1) = 1, you can just cross those out, leaving everything else.

8/(a+1)

And that's your answer. I hope this helps!

8a+8 can be factored as 8(a+1) because of the distributive property.

Then, you get 8(a+1) / (a^2 + 9a + 8)

Factoring the denominator gets (a+1)(a+8)

Then, you get 8(a+1) / ((a+1)(a+8))

You can divide out the a+1 and you get

8 / (a + 8)

a just can't be -8 since you would get 8 / 0 and that is undefined.

(8a+8) = 8(a+1)

a^2+9a+8 = (a+8)(a+1)

So, put those two over each other:

(8(a+1))/((a+8)(a+1))

ANd the (a+1) cancels out, and you end up with:

(8)/(a+8)

See "Scruffy McCaine"s answer -

but only where a <> -1 or -8 ('cause you'd be dividing by 0 and that's evil)

a^2 + 9a + 8

* 8a + 8

__________

8a^3 + 72a^2 + 64a

+ 8a^2 + 72a + 64

____________________

8a^3 + 80a^2 + 136a + 64

final answer:

8a^3 + 80a^2 + 136a + 64

i wish i could help but im only in the seventh grade and im failing algebra so i dont know sorry