math help

What is 24/5 + 3/6?

What is 24/5 + 3/6?

This is how we add

24
5
+
3
6

Step 1

Of course, you can't add two fractions if the denominators (bottom numbers) don't match. To get a common denominator, multiply the denominators together. Then we fix the numerators by multiplying each one by their other term's denominator.

Now you multiply 24 by 6, and get 144, then we multiply 5 by 6 and get 30.

24/5 times 6

Do the same for the second term. We multiply 3 by 5, and get 15, then multiply 5 by 6 and get 30.

3/6 times 5

The problem now has new fractions to add:

144
30
+
15
30

Step 2

Since our denominators match, we can add the numerators.

144 + 15 = 159

The sum we get is

159
30

Step 3

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

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

No good. So next you try the next prime number, which is 3...

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

159
30
÷ 3 =
53
10

So far so good... let's try to divide by that number again.

No good. So next you try the next prime number, which is 5...

No good. So next you try the next prime number, which is 7...

No good. So next you try the next prime number, which is 11...

No good. 11 is larger than 10. So we're done reducing.

And we're done! Here's the final answer to 24/5 + 3/6

24
5
+
3
6
=
53
10
© 2014 Randy Tayler