What is 3/24 + 3/12?

Here's how to add

Step 1

Now we need to make our denominators match.

Since 12 is evenly divided by 24, we can multiply just one term to get a common denominator.

Multiply 3 by 2, and get 6, then we multiply 12 by 2 and get 24.

The problem now has new fractions to add:

Step 2

Since our denominators match, we can add the numerators.

3 + 6 = 9

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...

Nope! So now we try the next greatest prime number, 3...

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

Let's try dividing by that again...

Nope! So now we try the next greatest prime number, 5...

No good. 5 is larger than 3. So we're done reducing.

There you have it! Here's the final answer to 3/24 + 3/12