# Math Help - Need to find a domain, cannot factor.

1. ## Need to find a domain, cannot factor.

Hey guys. I have the following problem. I am supposed to find the domain of the following function:

$g(x) = \frac{1}{x^2 + 4} - \frac{1}{x^2 - 4}$

This means I'll need to factor the denominators to see what must be excluded from the domain:

$x^2 + 4$

and

$x^2 - 4$

I was able to factor $x^2 - 4$ easily enough and got:

$(x+2) (x-2)$

Which will exclude 2 and -2 from the domain. I'm lost on how to factor $x^2 + 4$.

Help!

2. Originally Posted by JennyFlowers
Hey guys. I have the following problem. I am supposed to find the domain of the following function:

$g(x) = \frac{1}{x^2 + 4} - \frac{1}{x^2 - 4}$

This means I'll need to factor the denominators to see what must be excluded from the domain:

$x^2 + 4$

and

$x^2 - 4$

I was able to factor $x^2 - 4$ easily enough and got:

$(x+2) (x-2)$

Which will exclude 2 and -2 from the domain. I'm lost on how to factor $x^2 + 4$.

Help!

$x^2+4$ does not factor over the real numbers.

you found the domain ... all reals except $x = \pm 2$.

you're done.

3. $x^2+ 4$ does not factor over the real numbers, therefore it is never equal to 0, since, if a polynomial is equal to 0 at x= a, it has (x- a) as a factor.