Step One
Put the right side over a common denominator.
Step Two
Remove the brackets on the numerator in the last equality.
Step three.
This will seem kind of odd but take out the common factor (x) in the first two terms of the numerator.
Step Four
What you do next comes up very frequently in your second or third calculus course.
You have to notice that there are no xs in the numerators on the left side of the original expression
Therefore you have to make a - b = 0 so that the xs disappear on the right.
a - b =0
a = b
Step Five
Find a
a is all by itself on the numerator of the final result.
The original question has a 1 in the numerator. Therefore a = 1
Step Six
Solve for b
a = b
1 = b Answer