Click HERE, to go to a beginner's web site for working with fractions and mixed numbers. For your exercise, you need to first convert those mixed numbers into improper-fraction form, followed by doing the subtraction and simplifying.
Lesson 7 explains converting mixed numbers to improper fractions, and Lesson 13 explains how to work with mixed numbers, but you may want to take a quick glance at some of the earlier lessons, first.
Please feel free to return to this thread and post any questions that you have about what you read.
Cheers :cool:
PS: If you post again, please let us know whether you have returned to school versus needing information about fractions for some other purpose.
\(\displaystyle 3= \frac{9}{3}\) so 3 and 1/3 is \(\displaystyle \frac{9}{3}+ \frac{1}{3}= \frac{10}{3}\).
\(\displaystyle 2= \frac{10}{5}\) so 2 and 2/5 is \(\displaystyle \frac{10}{5}+ \frac{2}{5}= \frac{12}{5}\)
To subtract \(\displaystyle \frac{10}{3}- \frac{12}{5}\) we need "common denominators" which we can get by multiplying the numerator and denomminator of the first fraction by 5 and of the second fraction by 3:
\(\displaystyle \frac{5(10)}{5(3)}- \frac{3(12)}{3(5)}= \frac{50}{15}- \frac{36}{15}= \frac{50- 36}{15}= \frac{14}{15}\)
Since 14 is not divisible by either 3 or 5, the factors of 15, that fraction is not reducible.
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