Solving $\frac{1}{(x-1)} - \frac{1}{(x-2)} = \frac{1}{(x-3)} - \frac{1}{(x-4)}$. Why is my solution wrong? I'm following all hitherto me known rules for solving equations, but the result is wrong. Please explain why my approach is not correct.
We want to solve:
$$\frac{1}{(x-1)} - \frac{1}{(x-2)} = \frac{1}{(x-3)} - \frac{1}{(x-4)}\tag1$$
Moving the things in RHS to LHS:
$$\frac{1}{(x-1)} - \frac{1}{(x-2)} - \frac{1}{(x-3)} + \frac{1}{(x-4)} = 0\tag2$$
Writing everything above a common denominator:
$$\frac{1}{(x-4)(x-1)(x-2)(x-3)}\bigg[(x-2)(x-3)(x-4) - (x-1)(x-3)(x-4) - (x-2)(x-1)(x-4) + (x-1)(x-2)(x-3)\bigg] = 0\tag3$$
Multiplying both sides with the denominator to cancel the denominator:
$$(x-2)(x-3)(x-4) - (x-1)(x-3)(x-4) - (x-2)(x-1)(x-4) + (x-1)(x-2)(x-3) = 0\tag4$$
Multiplying the first two factors in every term:
$$(x^2-3x-2x+6)(x-4) - (x^2-3x-x+3)(x-4) - (x^2-x-2x+2)(x-4) + (x^2-2x-x+2)(x-3) = 0\tag5$$
Simplifying the first factors in every term:
$$(x^2-5x+6)(x-4) - (x^2-4x+3)(x-4) - (x^2-3x+2)(x-4) + (x^2-3x+2)(x-3) = 0\tag6$$
Multiplying factors again:
$$(x^3-4x^2-5x^2+20x+6x-24) - (x^3-4x^2-4x^2+16x+3x-12) - (x^3-4x^2-3x^2-12x+2x-8) + (x^3-3x^2-3x^2+9x+2x-6) = 0\tag7$$
Removing the parenthesis yields:
$$x^3-4x^2-5x^2+20x+6x-24 - x^3+4x^2+4x^2-16x-3x+12 - x^3+4x^2+3x^2+12x-2x+8 + x^3-3x^2-3x^2+9x+2x-6 = 0\tag8$$
Which results in:
$$28x - 10 = 0 \Rightarrow 28x = 10 \Rightarrow x = \frac{5}{14}\tag9$$
which is not correct. The correct answer is $x = \frac{5}{2}$.

A hint to make your life much simpler. 
Always simplify your variables to start with. Here you can easily make the substitution $x-4 = y$ to get an easier equation in $y$. 
Then noting that $\frac 1y - \frac 1{y+1} = \frac 1{y(y+1)}$, your can very easily see that the numerators on both sides when combining the rational expressions is just $1$ (to avoid confusion, note that I transposed the terms on each side to get a positive numerator). Taking the reciprocal on both sides and expanding, you get quadratics on both sides where the square terms immediately cancel, giving you a simple linear equation. Solve for $y$, then add $4$ to get $x$. 
