Divide (x^2-25)/(x+5)

$\frac{x^{2} - 25}{x + 5}$

Step 1

Simplify the numerator.

Rewrite $25$ as $5^{2}$ .

$\frac{x^{2} - 5^{2}}{x + 5}$

Since both terms are perfect squares, factor using the difference of squares formula, $a^{2} - b^{2} = (a + b) (a - b)$ where $a = x$ and $b = 5$ .

$\frac{(x + 5) (x - 5)}{x + 5}$

Step 2

Cancel the common factor of $x + 5$ .

Cancel the common factor.

$\frac{(x + 5) (x - 5)}{x + 5}$

Divide $x - 5$ by $1$ .

$x - 5$