Could you help me check this answer?

Question

(x² - 8x - 9) ÷ (x - 3) 

= x + 3 - 8/x - 3

Answer 1

You can always check yourself. According to your solution (x² - 8x - 9)/(x-3) = x + 3 - 8/(x-3)

However, this implies that (x² - 8x - 9) = (x - 3)(x+3) - 8.

 

Basically you can check to see if your answer is correct my multiplying through by what you just divided and seeing if you end up getting the original numerator. In this case, it doesn't check out.