What is 4/12 + 3/7?

Here's how you add

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 4 by 7, and get 28, then we multiply 12 by 7 and get 84.

Do the same for the second term. We multiply 3 by 12, and get 36, then multiply 12 by 7 and get 84.

The problem now has new fractions to add:

Step 2

Since our denominators match, we can add the numerators.

28 + 36 = 64

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...

Are both the numerator and the denominator evenly divisible by 2? Yes! So we reduce it:

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

Are both the numerator and the denominator evenly divisible by 2? Yes! So we reduce it:

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 3...

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. So next you try the next prime number, which is 13...

No good. So next you try the next prime number, which is 17...

No good. 17 is larger than 16. So we're done reducing.

And we're done! Here's the final answer to 4/12 + 3/7