Simplify x/(x^2-16)

$\frac{x}{x^{2} - 16}$

Step 1

Rewrite $16$ as $4^{2}$ .

$\frac{x}{x^{2} - 4^{2}}$

Step 2

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 $b = 4$ .

$\frac{x}{(x + 4) (x - 4)}$