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| Math Central | Quandaries & Queries |
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Question from Nick, a student: Can you explain how this works, I have been going at it for hours and have a test friday and just cant get my head around the question I have to express in lowest terms |
Hi Nick,
I'm going to illustrate with a similar problem.
Simplify 5 2/3 * 2 1/2 * 9 and express the answer in lowest terms.
The first step is to express the mixed numbers as common fractions.
5 is 15/3 so 5 2/3 = (15/3) + (2/3) = 17/3.
2 is 4/2 so 2 1/2 = (4/2) + (1/2) = 5/2.
Hence
5 2/3 * 2 1/2 * 9
= (17/3) × (5/2) × 9.
Notice that the 3 in the denominator divides the 9 in the numerator so this becomes
17 × (5/2) × 3
= 255/2.
I hope this helps,
Penny
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