More factoring help? How can you factor a^2 - (x + 1)^2?

Question

How would you factor a^2 - (x + 1)^2 as a difference of two squares? The only pattern I know is the a^2 - b^2 thing, and I tried looking online but I could only find factoring when there was only one variable.

I also have questions like "(c - d)^2 - e^2" and then multiplied out ones like "a^2 - 2ab + b^2 - 4."

Is there any simple way to do this that I'm completely blanking out on? Any help or step by step instructions would be greatly appreciated :) Thanks! ♥♥

Answer 1

You have it right about using the factoring form for the difference of two squares.
A^2 - B^2 = (A + B) (A - B)
Here, your A is a and your B is (X + 1)
Therefore, the factoring would be:
(a + [x + 1]) (a - [x + 1]) That reduces to:
(a + x + 1) (a - x -1) The distributive rule carries the negative sign through the bracket.