What is 11/12 + 5/6?

This is how to add

Step 1

Our denominators (bottom numbers) don't match, so we can't add yet.

Since 6 is evenly divided by 12, we can multiply just one term to get a common denominator.

Multiply 5 by 2, and get 10, then we multiply 6 by 2 and get 12.

The problem now has new fractions to add:

Step 2

Since our denominators match, we can add the numerators.

11 + 10 = 21

This yields the answer

Step 3

The last step is to reduce the fraction if we can.

To find out, we try dividing it by 2...

Nope. Try the next prime number, 3...

Are both the numerator and the denominator evenly divisible by 3? Yes! So we reduce it:

Now, try the same number again.

Nope. Try the next prime number, 5...

No good. 5 is larger than 4. So we're done reducing.

Congratulations! Here's your final answer to 11/12 + 5/6