[tex] \frac{x^2 - 5x-6}{x^2 - 36} [/tex]
You can begin to simplify this by factoring both the numerator and denominator:
[tex] \frac{x^2 - 5x-6}{x^2 - 36} = \frac{(x-6)(x+1)}{(x-6)(x+6)} [/tex]
Next, cancel out any common factors in both the numerator and denominator:
[tex]\frac{(x-6)(x+1)}{(x-6)(x+6)} = \frac{x+1}{x+6} [/tex]
Your answer would be [tex]\frac{x+1}{x+6} [/tex].
