Chapter 8

Dividing the Long Way to Simplify

Algebraic Expressions
In This Chapter
▶ Dividing one or more terms by a single term
▶ Working with binomial and trinomial divisors
▶ Simplifying the process with synthetic division

U sing long division to simplify algebraic expressions with variables and constants has
many similarities to performing long division with just numbers. The variables do
add an interesting twist (besides making everything look like alphabet soup) — with the
exponents and different letters to consider. But the division problem is still made up of a
divisor, dividend, and quotient (what divides in, what’s divided into, and the answer). And
one difference between traditional long division and algebraic division is that, in algebra,
you usually write the remainders as algebraic fractions.

Dividing by a Monomial
Dividing an expression by a monomial (one term) can go one of two ways.

✓ Every term in the expression is evenly divisible by the divisor.

✓ One or more terms in the expression don’t divide evenly.

If a fraction divides evenly — if every term can be divided by the divisor — the denominator
and numerator have a common factor. For instance, in the first example in this section, the
denominator, 6y, divides every term in the numerator. To emphasize the common factor
business, I first factor the numerator by dividing out the 6y, and then I reduce the fraction.

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 94 Part II: Changing the Format of Expressions

As nice as it would be if algebraic expressions always divided evenly, that isn’t always the
case. Often, you have one or more terms in the expression — in the fraction’s numerator —
that don’t contain all the factors in the divisor (denominator). When this happens, the
best strategy is to break up the problem into as many fractions as there are terms in the
numerator. In the end, though, the method you use is pretty much dictated by what you
want to do with the expression when you’re done.

Q. Q.
A. y(4 – 3y + 5y2) A.
The numerator contains a factor The last term doesn’t have a factor of
matching the denominator. 4x, so you break up the numerator into
separate fractions for the division.

1. 2.
Solve It Solve It

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 Chapter 8: Dividing the Long Way to Simplify Algebraic Expressions 95
3. 4.
Solve It Solve It

Dividing by a Binomial
Dividing by a binomial (two terms) in algebra means that those two terms, as a unit or
grouping, have to divide into another expression. After dividing, if you find that the division
doesn’t have a remainder, then you know that the divisor was actually a factor of the
original expression. When dividing a binomial into another expression, you always work
toward getting rid of the lead term (the first term — the one with the highest power) in the
original polynomial and then the new terms in the division process. See the following
example for a clearer picture of this concept.

This example shows a dividend that starts with a third-degree term and is followed by terms
in decreasing powers (second degree, first degree, and zero degree, which is a constant —
just a number with no variable). If your dividend is missing any powers that are lower than
the lead term, you need to fill in the spaces with zeroes to keep your division lined up.

Also, if you have a remainder, remember to write that remainder as the numerator of a
fraction with the divisor in the denominator.

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 Chapter 9

Figuring on Factoring
In This Chapter
▶ Writing prime factorizations of numbers
▶ Determining the greatest common factor (GCF)
▶ Using factors to reduce algebraic fractions

F actoring an expression amounts to changing the form from a bunch of addition and
subtraction to a simpler expression that uses multiplication and division. The change
from an unfactored form to a factored form creates a single term — all tied together by the
multiplication and division — that you can use when performing other processes. Here
are some of the other tasks in algebra that require a factored form: reducing or simplifying
fractions (see Chapter 3), solving equations (see Chapters 12–15), solving inequalities (see
Chapter 16), and graphing functions (see Chapter 21).

Pouring Over Prime Factorizations

A prime factorization of a number is a listing of all the prime numbers whose product is that
number. Of course, you first have to recognize which numbers are the prime numbers. The
first 25 prime numbers are: 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 37, 41, 43, 47, 53, 59, 61, 67,
71, 73, 79, 83, 89, and 97. Don’t worry about memorizing them. Infinitely many more primes
exist, but these smaller numbers (and, actually, usually just the first ten) are the most com-
monly used ones when doing prime factorizations.

To write the prime factorization of a number, start by writing that number as the product of
two numbers and then writing each of those two numbers as products, and so on, until you
have only prime numbers in the product.

By convention, prime factorizations are written with the prime factors going from the small-
est to the largest. The specific order helps when you’re trying to find common factors in
two or three (or more) different numbers.

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 106 Part II: Changing the Format of Expressions

Q. Find the prime factorization of 360. Q. Find the prime factorization of 90.

A. 360 = 23 × 32 × 5 A. 90 = 2 × 32 × 5

360 = 10 × 36 = 2 × 5 × 6 × 6 = 2 × 5 × 2 ×
3 × 2 × 3 = 23 × 32 × 5
90 = 9 × 10 = 3 × 3 × 2 × 5 = 2 × 32 × 5
You can start the multiplication in differ-
ent ways. For example, maybe you started
writing 90 as the product of 6 and 15. How
you start doesn’t matter. You’ll always
end up with the same answer.

1. Write the prime factorization of 24. 2. Write the prime factorization of 100.

Solve It Solve It

3. Write the prime factorization of 256. 4. Write the prime factorization of 3,872.

Solve It Solve It

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 Chapter 9: Figuring on Factoring 107
Factoring Out the Greatest Common Factor
The first line of attack (and the easiest to perform) when factoring an expression is to look
for the greatest common factor (GCF), or the largest factor that will divide all terms in the
expression evenly. You want a factor that divides each of the terms and, at the same time,
doesn’t leave any common factor in the resulting terms. The goal is to take out as many fac-
tors as possible. More than one step may be required to completely accomplish this feat,
but the end result is a GCF times terms that are relatively prime (have no factor in common).

Q. Find the GCF and factor the expression. Q. Factor out the GCF: .
30x4y2 – 20x5y3 + 50x6y.
A. . Dealing with fractional
A. 10x4y (3y – 2xy2 + 5x2). If you divide each exponents can be tricky. Just remember
term by the greatest common factor, that the same rules apply to fractional
which is 10x4y, and put the results of the exponents as with whole numbers. You
divisions in parentheses, the factored subtract the exponents.
form is 30x4y2 – 20x5y3 + 50x6y = 10x4y (3y
– 2xy2 + 5x2). It’s like doing this division,
with each fraction reducing to become a
term in the parentheses:

Now write the common factor, 4a1/2, out-

side the parentheses and the results of
the division inside.

5. Factor out the GCF: 24x2y3 – 42x3y2. 6. Factor out the GCF: .

Solve It Solve It

7. Factor out the GCF: 16a2b3c4 – 48ab4c2. 8. Factor out the GCF: .

Solve It Solve It

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 108 Part II: Changing the Format of Expressions

Reducing Algebraic Fractions

The basic principles behind reducing fractions with numbers and reducing fractions with
variables and numbers remain the same. You want to find something that divides both the
numerator (the top of the fraction) and denominator (bottom of the fraction) evenly and
then leave the results of the division as the new numerator and new denominator.

When the fraction has two or more terms in the numerator, denominator, or both, you first
have to factor out the GCF before you can reduce. And when the algebraic fraction has just
multiplication and division in the numerator and denominator, the reducing part is pretty
easy. Just divide out the common factors as shown in the following example.

Q. Reduce the fraction: . Q. Reduce the fraction: .

A. A.
In this fraction, the GCF is 7xy: First find the GCF of the numerator and
denominator; it’s :

9. Reduce the fraction: . 10. Reduce the fraction: .

Solve It Solve It

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 Chapter 9: Figuring on Factoring 109
11. Reduce the fraction: . 12. Reduce the fraction:

Solve It .

Solve It

13. Reduce the fraction: . 14. Reduce the fraction:

Solve It .

Solve It

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