math help

What is 3/20 + 1/10?

What is 3/20 + 1/10?

This is how to add

3
20
+
1
10

Step 1

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

Since 10 is evenly divided by 20, we can multiply just one term to get a common denominator.

Multiply 1 by 2, and get 2, then we multiply 10 by 2 and get 20.

1/10 times 2

The problem now has new fractions to add:

3
20
+
2
20

Step 2

Since our denominators match, we can add the numerators.

3 + 2 = 5

This yields the answer

5
20

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...

Are both the numerator and the denominator evenly divisible by 5? Yes! So we reduce it:

5
20
÷ 5 =
1
4

Now, try the same number again.

No good. 5 is larger than 1. So we're done reducing.

Congratulations! Here's your final answer to 3/20 + 1/10

3
20
+
1
10
=
1
4
© 2014 Randy Tayler