What is 2/5 - 4/10?

Here's how to subtract 4/10 from 2/5:

Step 1

We can't subtract two fractions with different denominators. So you need to get a common denominator. To do this, you'll multiply the denominators times each other... but the numerators have to change, too. They get multiplied by the other term's denominator.

So we multiply 2 by 10, and get 20.

Then we multiply 4 by 5, and get 20.

Next we give both terms new denominators -- 5 × 10 = 50.

So now our fractions look like this:

Step 2

Since our denominators match, we can subtract the numerators.

20 − 20 = 0

So the answer is: