Given the equation:
$$\frac{36}{x + 9} + \frac{16}{x + 7} = 5$$
Multiply the equation sides by the denominators:
7 + x and 9 + x
we get:
$$\left(x + 7\right) \left(\frac{36}{x + 9} + \frac{16}{x + 7}\right) = 5 x + 35$$
$$\frac{4 \left(13 x + 99\right)}{x + 9} = 5 x + 35$$
$$\frac{4 \left(13 x + 99\right)}{x + 9} \left(x + 9\right) = \left(x + 9\right) \left(5 x + 35\right)$$
$$52 x + 396 = 5 x^{2} + 80 x + 315$$
Move right part of the equation to
left part with negative sign.
The equation is transformed from
$$52 x + 396 = 5 x^{2} + 80 x + 315$$
to
$$- 5 x^{2} - 28 x + 81 = 0$$
This equation is of the form
a*x^2 + b*x + c = 0
A quadratic equation can be solved
using the discriminant.
The roots of the quadratic equation:
$$x_{1} = \frac{\sqrt{D} - b}{2 a}$$
$$x_{2} = \frac{- \sqrt{D} - b}{2 a}$$
where D = b^2 - 4*a*c - it is the discriminant.
Because
$$a = -5$$
$$b = -28$$
$$c = 81$$
, then
D = b^2 - 4 * a * c =
(-28)^2 - 4 * (-5) * (81) = 2404
Because D > 0, then the equation has two roots.
x1 = (-b + sqrt(D)) / (2*a)
x2 = (-b - sqrt(D)) / (2*a)
or
$$x_{1} = - \frac{\sqrt{601}}{5} - \frac{14}{5}$$
$$x_{2} = - \frac{14}{5} + \frac{\sqrt{601}}{5}$$