MathsManiac wrote: » Multiply both sides by (a-b) to give:x(a-b) = (a+b) Expand the left-hand side to get:xa - xb = a + b Next, you need to get all terms that have an "a" in them to the left-hand side, and all other terms to the right-hand side. So, add xb to both sides:xa = a + b + xb ...and subtract a from both sides:xa - a = b + xb. Factorsie the left-hand side, so that a will appear only once:a(x - 1) = b + xb. (We could have factorised the right-hand side too, but it's not necessary.) Now divide across by (x - 1) to get:a = (b + xb) / (x-1) If we had factorised the top line too, this would be a = b(x+1)/(x-1).