1/y - 1/y+4 =-4/y^2-16 solve for the unknown write down restrictions
First, we need to simplify the left-hand side of the equation:
1/y - 1/(y+4) = (y+4 - y)/(y(y+4)) = 4/(y(y+4))
Substituting this back into the original equation, we get:
4/(y(y+4)) = -4/(y^2-16)
Multiplying both sides by y(y+4) and -1 gives:
-16 = 4y + 4y + 16
8y = -32
y = -4
However, we need to check our solution because y=-4 makes the denominator of our original equation zero. Therefore, the restriction is that y cannot be equal to -4 or +4 (because that would make the denominator of y^2-16 zero).