math help

What is 45/3 + 3/7?

What is 45/3 + 3/7?

This is how you add

45
3
+
3
7

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 45 by 7, and get 315, then we multiply 3 by 7 and get 21.

45/3 times 7

Do the same for the second term. We multiply 3 by 3, and get 9, then multiply 3 by 7 and get 21.

3/7 times 3

The problem now has new fractions to add:

315
21
+
9
21

Step 2

Since our denominators match, we can add the numerators.

315 + 9 = 324

This yields the answer

324
21

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...

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

324
21
÷ 3 =
108
7

Now, try the same number again.

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

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

Nope. Try the next prime number, 11...

No good. 11 is larger than 7. So we're done reducing.

Congratulations! Here's your final answer to 45/3 + 3/7

45
3
+
3
7
=
108
7
© 2014 Randy Tayler