Simplify:

4s raised to the negative 2 power - (4t)raised to the -2 power

4s^2 - (4t)^-2

what about it?
Are we factoring?
If so, I see the difference of squares

= 4(s+t^-1)(s-t^-1)
or
= 4(s+1/t)(s-1/t)

No the question only says to simplify and the problem was 4s^-2-(4t)^-2

sorry, did not see that first -2

ok, factoring is simplifying

or you could so this

4/s^2 - 1/(16t^2)
= (64t^2 - s^2)/(16s^2t^2)
= (8t+s)(8t-s)/(16s^2t^2)

my revised solution for the above:
4s^-2 - 16t^-2
= 4(s^-1 + 2t^-1)(s^-1 - 2t^-1)
or
= 4(1/s + 2/t)(1/s - 2/t)

To simplify the expression 4s^(-2) - (4t)^(-2), we need to apply the laws of exponents.

The first step is to rewrite the negative exponents as positive exponents by moving the terms to the denominator:

4s^(-2) can be rewritten as 4 / s^2, and
(4t)^(-2) can be rewritten as 1 / (4t)^2.

Now, let's simplify further:

4 / s^2 - 1 / (4t)^2

Next, we need to simplify both fractions by finding a common denominator. The least common multiple (LCM) of the denominators s^2 and (4t)^2 is (s^2 * (4t)^2).

Multiplying the first fraction by (4t)^2 / (4t)^2 and the second fraction by s^2 / s^2, we have:

(4 * (4t)^2) / (s^2 * (4t)^2) - (s^2) / (s^2 * (4t)^2)

Simplifying the numerator gives us:

(4 * 16t^2) / (s^2 * 16t^2) - (s^2) / (s^2 * (4t)^2)

Which simplifies to:

64t^2 / (s^2 * 16t^2) - (s^2) / (s^2 * 16t^2)

Now, we can combine the fractions:

(64t^2 - s^2) / (s^2 * 16t^2)

Therefore, the simplified expression is (64t^2 - s^2) / (s^2 * 16t^2).