Operations with Fractions

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Operations with Fractions

In this article, we will learn how to perform mathematical calculations with fractions.

More reading material:

  • Addition of fractions
  • Subtraction of fractions
  • Multiplication of fractions
  • Division of fractions
  • Comparison of fractions
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Test yourself on operations with fractions!

einstein

Solve the following exercise:

\( \frac{1}{5}+\frac{1}{3}=\text{?} \)

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Sum of Fractions

First step: Find the common denominator

We will expand or reduce the fractions to end up with two fractions with the same denominator.
A very common way to do this is by multiplying the denominators.


Second step: Addition of the numerators

Only the numerators are added while the denominator remains unchanged.

Let's look at an example

45+23=\frac{4}{5}+\frac{2}{3}=
Solution:

First step: Obtain the common denominator

We will multiply the numerators and obtain:
1215+1015=\frac{12}{15}+\frac{10}{15}=

Second step: Add the numerators

We will obtain
2215=1715\frac{22}{15}=1\frac{7}{15}

Click here for a deeper explanation on the addition of fractions with more exercises.


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Subtraction of Fractions

First step: Find the common denominator

We will find the common denominator by expanding, simplifying, or multiplying the denominators.
We will end up with two fractions with the same denominator.


Second step: Subtraction of numerators

Only the numerators are subtracted while the denominator remains unchanged.

Let's look at an example

58โˆ’12=\frac{5}{8}-\frac{1}{2}=

Solution:
First step: Find the common denominator
We will multiply the denominators and obtain:
1016โˆ’816=\frac{10}{16}-\frac{8}{16}=

Second step: Subtract the numerators and reduce the denominator
216=18\frac{2}{16}=\frac{1}{8}

Click here for a more in-depth explanation on subtracting fractions with more exercises.


Do you know what the answer is?

Multiplication of Fractions

To multiply fractions, we will multiply numerator by numerator and denominator by denominator.

  • In case there is a mixed number - we will convert it into a fraction and then multiply numerator by numerator and denominator by denominator.
  • In case there is an integer - we will convert it into a fraction and then multiply numerator by numerator and denominator by denominator.
  • The commutative property works - We can change the order of the fractions within the exercise without altering the result.

Example

324ร—23=3\frac{2}{4} \times \frac{2}{3}=

Solution:
First, we will convert the mixed number to a fraction.

We will obtain:
144=23\frac{14}{4}=\frac{2}{3}

Now, we will multiply numerator by numerator and denominator by denominator.
We will obtain:
14ร—24ร—3=2812=2412=213\frac{14 \times 2}{4 \times 3}=\frac{28}{12}=2\frac{4}{12}=2\frac{1}{3}

Click here for a deeper explanation on fraction multiplication with more exercises.


Check your understanding

Division of Fractions

First step: Convert all the numbers in the exercise to fractions.

  • In case there is any mixed number - we will convert it into a fraction
  • In case there is any whole number - we will convert it into a fraction

Second step: Change the division operation to multiplication and swap the places of the numerator and denominator in the second fraction.

We will change the operation from divide to multiply and swap places between the numerator and the denominator in the fraction that is found after the divide sign.


Do you think you will be able to solve it?

Third step: Multiply numerator by numerator and denominator by denominator

Let's look at an example

145:231\frac{4}{5}:\frac{2}{3}

Solution:
First step: We will convert the mixed number to a fraction.
We will obtain:
95:23=\frac{9}{5}:\frac{2}{3}=

Second step: We will change the division operation to multiplication and swap places between the numerator and the denominator in the fraction that is after the division sign.
We will obtain:

95ร—32=\frac{9}{5} \times \frac{3}{2}=

Third step: We will multiply numerator by numerator and denominator by denominator.
We will obtain:
9ร—35ร—2=\frac{9 \times 3}{5 \times 2}=

2710=2710\frac{27}{10}=2\frac{7}{10}

Click here for a more in-depth explanation on fraction division with more exercises.


Comparison of Fractions

When the numerators are equal and the denominators are different:
The larger fraction will be the one whose denominator is the smallest.
When the numerators are different and the denominators are equal:
The larger fraction will be the one whose numerator is the largest.
When both the numerators and the denominators are different:


Test your knowledge

First step

We will find the common denominator by expanding, simplifying, or multiplying the denominators. (Let's remember to multiply both the numerator and the denominator)
In case there is any mixed number, we will convert it into a fraction and then, we will find the common denominator.


Second step

When obtaining two fractions with the same denominator, the larger fraction will be the one whose numerator is greater.


Do you know what the answer is?

Let's look at some examples

Example 1

Place the corresponding sign ย >,<,=ย >,<,=
510\frac{5}{10}_____________________58\frac{5}{8}

Solution:
The numerators are equal and the denominators are different, therefore, the larger fraction will be the one whose denominator is the smallest.


Example 2

Place the corresponding sign ย >,<,=ย >,<,=

25\frac{2}{5}_____________________45\frac{4}{5}

Solution:
The numerators are different and the denominators are the same, therefore, the larger fraction will be the one whose numerator is greater.


Check your understanding

Example 3

Place the corresponding sign ย >,<,=ย >,<,=

2462\frac{4}{6}_____________________1451\frac{4}{5}

Solution:
We will convert the mixed numbers into fractions. We obtain:
166\frac{16}{6}_____________________95\frac{9}{5}
Now we will find the common denominator. We obtain:

8030\frac{80}{30}_____________________5430\frac{54}{30}

When the denominators are equal, the larger fraction will be the one whose numerator is greater.


Examples and exercises with solutions for operations with fractions

Exercise #1

23+215โˆ’45= \frac{2}{3}+\frac{2}{15}-\frac{4}{5}=

Video Solution

Step-by-Step Solution

Let's try to find the lowest common denominator between 3, 15, and 5

To find the lowest common denominator, we need to find a number that is divisible by 3, 15, and 5

In this case, the common denominator is 15

Now we'll multiply each fraction by the appropriate number to reach the denominator 15

We'll multiply the first fraction by 5

We'll multiply the second fraction by 1

We'll multiply the third fraction by 3

2ร—53ร—5+2ร—115ร—1โˆ’4ร—35ร—3=1015+215โˆ’1215 \frac{2\times5}{3\times5}+\frac{2\times1}{15\times1}-\frac{4\times3}{5\times3}=\frac{10}{15}+\frac{2}{15}-\frac{12}{15}

Now we'll add and then subtract:

10+2โˆ’1215=12โˆ’1215=015 \frac{10+2-12}{15}=\frac{12-12}{15}=\frac{0}{15}

We'll divide both the numerator and denominator by 0 and get:

015=0 \frac{0}{15}=0

Answer

0 0

Exercise #2

13+715โˆ’25= \frac{1}{3}+\frac{7}{15}-\frac{2}{5}=

Video Solution

Step-by-Step Solution

Let's try to find the lowest common denominator between 3, 15, and 5

To find the lowest common denominator, we need to find a number that is divisible by 3, 15, and 5

In this case, the common denominator is 15

Now we'll multiply each fraction by the appropriate number to reach the denominator 15

We'll multiply the first fraction by 5

We'll multiply the second fraction by 1

We'll multiply the third fraction by 3

1ร—53ร—5+7ร—115ร—1โˆ’2ร—35ร—3=515+715โˆ’615 \frac{1\times5}{3\times5}+\frac{7\times1}{15\times1}-\frac{2\times3}{5\times3}=\frac{5}{15}+\frac{7}{15}-\frac{6}{15}

Now we'll add and then subtract:

5+7โˆ’615=12โˆ’615=615 \frac{5+7-6}{15}=\frac{12-6}{15}=\frac{6}{15}

We'll divide both numerator and denominator by 3 and get:

6:315:3=25 \frac{6:3}{15:3}=\frac{2}{5}

Answer

25 \frac{2}{5}

Exercise #3

Solve the following expression:

14ร—(13+12)= \frac{1}{4}\times(\frac{1}{3}+\frac{1}{2})=

Video Solution

Step-by-Step Solution

According to the order of operations, we will first solve the expression in parentheses.

Note that since the denominators are not common, we will look for a number that is both divisible by 2 and 3. That is 6.

We will multiply one-third by 2 and one-half by 3, now we will get the expression:

14ร—(2+36)= \frac{1}{4}\times(\frac{2+3}{6})=

Let's solve the numerator of the fraction:

14ร—56= \frac{1}{4}\times\frac{5}{6}=

We will combine the fractions into a multiplication expression:

1ร—54ร—6=524 \frac{1\times5}{4\times6}=\frac{5}{24}

Answer

524 \frac{5}{24}

Exercise #4

Solve the following expression:

13(92โˆ’34)= \frac{1}{3}(\frac{9}{2}-\frac{3}{4})=

Video Solution

Step-by-Step Solution

According to the order of operations rules, we will first address the expression in parentheses.

The common denominator between the fractions is 4, so we will multiply each numerator by the number needed for its denominator to reach 4.

We will multiply the first fraction's numerator by 2 and the second fraction's numerator by 1:

(92โˆ’34)=2ร—9โˆ’1ร—34=18โˆ’34=154 (\frac{9}{2}-\frac{3}{4})=\frac{2\times9-1\times3}{4}=\frac{18-3}{4}=\frac{15}{4}

Now we have the expression:

13ร—154= \frac{1}{3}\times\frac{15}{4}=

Note that we can reduce 15 and 3:

11ร—54= \frac{1}{1}\times\frac{5}{4}=

Now we multiply numerator by numerator and denominator by denominator:

1ร—51ร—4=54=114 \frac{1\times5}{1\times4}=\frac{5}{4}=1\frac{1}{4}

Answer

114 1\frac{1}{4}

Exercise #5

(14+74โˆ’54โˆ’14)โ‹…10:7:5=? (\frac{1}{4}+\frac{7}{4}-\frac{5}{4}-\frac{1}{4})\cdot10:7:5=\text{?}

Video Solution

Step-by-Step Solution

Let's simplify this expression while following the order of operations which states that exponents come before multiplication and division, which come before addition and subtraction, and that parentheses come before all of these,

Therefore, we'll start by simplifying the expressions in parentheses first:
(14+74โˆ’54โˆ’14)โ‹…10:7:5=1+7โˆ’5โˆ’14โ‹…10:7:5=24โ‹…10:7:5=12โ‹…10:7:5 (\frac{1}{4}+\frac{7}{4}-\frac{5}{4}-\frac{1}{4})\cdot10:7:5=\\ \frac{1+7-5-1}{4}\cdot10:7:5 =\\ \frac{2}{4}\cdot10:7:5 = \\ \frac{1}{2}\cdot10:7:5

We calculated the expression inside the parentheses by adding the fractions, which we did by creating one fraction using the common denominator (4) which in this case is the denominator in all fractions, so we only added/subtracted the numerators (according to the fraction sign), then we reduced the resulting fraction,

We'll continue and note that between multiplication and division operations there is no defined precedence for either operation, therefore we'll calculate the result of the expression obtained in the last step step by step from left to right (which is the regular order in arithmetic operations), meaning we'll first perform the multiplication operation, which is the first from the left, and then we'll perform the division operation that comes after it, and so on:

12โ‹…10:7:5=1โ‹…102:7:5=102:7:5=5:7:5=57:5 \frac{1}{2}\cdot10:7:5 =\\ \frac{1\cdot10}{2}:7:5 =\\ \frac{10}{2}:7:5 =\\ 5:7:5 =\\ \frac{5}{7}:5

In the first step, we performed the multiplication of the fraction by the whole number, remembering that multiplying by a fraction means multiplying by the fraction's numerator, then we simplified the resulting fraction and reduced it (effectively performing the division operation that results from it), in the final step we wrote the division operation as a simple fraction, since this division operation yields a non-whole result,

We'll continue and to perform the final division operation, we'll remember that dividing by a number is the same as multiplying by its reciprocal, and therefore we'll replace the division operation with multiplication by the reciprocal:

57:5=57โ‹…15 \frac{5}{7}:5 =\\ \frac{5}{7}\cdot\frac{1}{5}

In this case we preferred to multiply by the reciprocal because the divisor in the expression is a fraction and it's more convenient to perform multiplication between fractions,

We will then perform the multiplication between the fractions we got in the last step, while remembering that multiplication between fractions is performed by multiplying numerator by numerator and denominator by denominator while maintaining the fraction line, then we'll simplify the resulting expression by reducing it:

57โ‹…15=5โ‹…17โ‹…5=535=17 \frac{5}{7}\cdot\frac{1}{5} =\\ \frac{5\cdot1}{7\cdot5}=\\ \frac{5}{35}=\\ \frac{1}{7}

Let's summarize the solution steps, we got that:

(14+74โˆ’54โˆ’14)โ‹…10:7:5=1+7โˆ’5โˆ’14โ‹…10:7:5=12โ‹…10:7:5=5:7:5=57โ‹…15=17 (\frac{1}{4}+\frac{7}{4}-\frac{5}{4}-\frac{1}{4})\cdot10:7:5=\\ \frac{1+7-5-1}{4}\cdot10:7:5 =\\ \frac{1}{2}\cdot10:7:5 =\\ 5:7:5 =\\ \frac{5}{7}\cdot\frac{1}{5} =\\ \frac{1}{7}

Therefore the correct answer is answer B.

Answer

17 \frac{1}{7}

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