math help

What is 88/15 + 9/10?

What is 88/15 + 9/10?

This is how we add

88
15
+
9
10

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 88 by 10, and get 880, then we multiply 15 by 10 and get 150.

88/15 times 10

Do the same for the second term. We multiply 9 by 15, and get 135, then multiply 15 by 10 and get 150.

9/10 times 15

The problem now has new fractions to add:

880
150
+
135
150

Step 2

Since our denominators match, we can add the numerators.

880 + 135 = 1015

This yields the answer

1015
150

Step 3

The last step is to reduce the fraction if we can.

To find out, we try dividing it by 2...

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...

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

1015
150
÷ 5 =
203
30

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 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. So next you try the next prime number, which is 19...

No good. So next you try the next prime number, which is 23...

No good. So next you try the next prime number, which is 29...

No good. So next you try the next prime number, which is 31...

No good. 31 is larger than 30. So we're done reducing.

And we're done! Here's the final answer to 88/15 + 9/10

88
15
+
9
10
=
203
30
© 2014 Randy Tayler