math help

What is 21/63 + 1/9?

What is 21/63 + 1/9?

This is how we add

21
63
+
1
9

Step 1

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

Since 9 is evenly divided by 63, we can multiply just one term to get a common denominator.

Multiply 1 by 7, and get 7, then we multiply 9 by 7 and get 63.

1/9 times 7

The problem now has new fractions to add:

21
63
+
7
63

Step 2

Since our denominators match, we can add the numerators.

21 + 7 = 28

The sum we get is

28
63

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...

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

Nope. Try the next prime number, 7...

Are both the numerator and the denominator evenly divisible by 7? Yes! So we reduce it:

28
63
÷ 7 =
4
9

Now, try the same number again.

No good. 7 is larger than 4. So we're done reducing.

Congratulations! Here's your final answer to 21/63 + 1/9

21
63
+
1
9
=
4
9
© 2014 Randy Tayler