Divide (x^2-49)/(x+7)

$\frac{x^{2} - 49}{x + 7}$

Step 1

Simplify the numerator.

Rewrite $49$ as $7^{2}$ .

$\frac{x^{2} - 7^{2}}{x + 7}$

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 $b = 7$ .

$\frac{(x + 7) (x - 7)}{x + 7}$

Step 2

Cancel the common factor of $x + 7$ .

Cancel the common factor.

$\frac{(x + 7) (x - 7)}{x + 7}$

Divide $x - 7$ by $1$ .

$x - 7$