What is 1/6 + 1/2?

This is how we add

Step 1

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

Since 2 is evenly divided by 6, we can multiply just one term to get a common denominator.

Multiply 1 by 3, and get 3, then we multiply 2 by 3 and get 6.

The problem now has new fractions to add:

Step 2

Since our denominators match, we can add the numerators.

1 + 3 = 4

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...

Are both the numerator and the denominator evenly divisible by 2? Yes! So we reduce it:

Now, try the same number again.

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

No good. 3 is larger than 2. So we're done reducing.

Congratulations! Here's your final answer to 1/6 + 1/2