Question

Express 3x/4 - x/5 as a single fraction in simplest form.

Answer 1

first step is to get a common denominator for those fractions,
can you tell me the lowest common multiple of 4 & 5

Answer 2

the lowest common multiple of 4 & 5 is 20

Answer 3

good, so to get 20 as the denominator for the first fraction, you'll have to multiply,
by 5, now to keep the fraction equal to the same value, you'll have to also have to multiply the numerator

3x/4 becomes (5*3x)/(5*4), can you simplify the numerator and denominator of this?

Answer 4

15x/20

Answer 5

awesome,

now we need to make the second fraction also have the denominator 20,

x/5 becomes ... / 20

can you see how to do this?

Answer 6

uhm is it 7x/20? I understand some of it

Answer 7

almost, to get the second denominator to be 20 we have to times the 5 by 4,

so we also have to times the x by 4

Answer 8

4x

Answer 9

right, so we have changed
3x/4 - x/5

to

15x/20- 4x/20

now the denominators are equal , we can simply perform the takeaway on the numerators

becomes
(15x- 4x)/20

Answer 10

simplify this and your done

Answer 11

11x/20 ! Thank You so much for the help, I appreciate it

Answer 12

Brilliant!, and a warm welcome to openstudy @coolprince
\[\ddot\smile\]