math help

What is 80/2 + 1/3?

What is 80/2 + 1/3?

This is how you add

80
2
+
1
3

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 80 by 3, and get 240, then we multiply 2 by 3 and get 6.

80/2 times 3

Do the same for the second term. We multiply 1 by 2, and get 2, then multiply 2 by 3 and get 6.

1/3 times 2

The problem now has new fractions to add:

240
6
+
2
6

Step 2

Since our denominators match, we can add the numerators.

240 + 2 = 242

The sum we get is

242
6

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:

242
6
÷ 2 =
121
3

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. 5 is larger than 3. So we're done reducing.

And we're done! Here's the final answer to 80/2 + 1/3

80
2
+
1
3
=
121
3
© 2014 Randy Tayler