Given the equation:
$$\frac{x^{2} - 1}{x + 2} = 4 x$$
Multiply the equation sides by the denominators:
2 + x
we get:
$$\frac{\left(x + 2\right) \left(x^{2} - 1\right)}{x + 2} = 4 x \left(x + 2\right)$$
$$x^{2} - 1 = 4 x \left(x + 2\right)$$
Move right part of the equation to
left part with negative sign.
The equation is transformed from
$$x^{2} - 1 = 4 x \left(x + 2\right)$$
to
$$- 3 x^{2} - 8 x - 1 = 0$$
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
$$a = -3$$
$$b = -8$$
$$c = -1$$
, then
D = b^2 - 4 * a * c =
(-8)^2 - 4 * (-3) * (-1) = 52
Because D > 0, then the equation has two roots.
x1 = (-b + sqrt(D)) / (2*a)
x2 = (-b - sqrt(D)) / (2*a)
or
$$x_{1} = - \frac{4}{3} - \frac{\sqrt{13}}{3}$$
$$x_{2} = - \frac{4}{3} + \frac{\sqrt{13}}{3}$$