How do you add fractions with different denominators??????

Question

How do you add fractions with different denominators? You have to cancel them down or something...?? Plz help!!!! Thanks x

Answer 1

Have to determine the LCM and convert each to an equivilant fraction with the Lowest Common Multiple as denominator. Properly converted, just add the numerators over the LCM.

ex: 3/5+6/15
9/15 + 6/15
15/15 or 1

ex. 2/3 +1/2
4/6 + 3/6
7/6 or 1 1/6
Get it?

Answer 2

multiply each fraction by 1 (so you don't change its value) in the form of a/a (a number divided by itself) so that you end up with the same denominators, then add the tops.

3/5 + 3/4 =
(3/5)(4/4) + (3/4)(5/5) =
12/20 + 15/20 =
27/20

2/3 + 5/8 =
(2/3)(8/8) + (5/8)(3/3) =
16/24 + 15/24 =
31/24

5/6 + 7/9 =
(5/6)(3/3) + (7/9)(2/2) =
15/18 + 14/18 =
29/18

Answer 3

Hey Shy it's prety easy once you get the hang of it. You have t come up with a "common denominator". In other words you have to fix it where both fractions have the same one. for instance say 1/3 plus 3/5ths. You can multiply 3 times 5 and come .up with 15. So 5 times the one third would be 5 times 1 and 5 times 3 or 5/15ths, then the same with 3/5 would be using 3 or the opposite of the five and end up with 3 times 3 and 3 times 5 or 9/15ths. Added together gives you 14/15ths. Hope it makes sense. Like 1/4 and 1/6 you could multiply them and have 24ths, but the easy way is the next largest number that both will divide into. 12. So 1/4 times three equals 3/12ths and 1/6 times 2 equals 2/12ths. See ya.

Answer 4

so let's say you have 3/4 + 5/3. You can't add these two because of the different denominators. So you find their common denominator. So, that would be 12. you multiply the 3/4 by 3 so you get 9/12 and multiply 5/3 by 4 so that you get 20/12. then you add the two to get 29/12 and then simplify if you can and if you can't that's your answer. You can also make it into a decimal.

I hope this helps. lol. i am not good at explaining things.

Answer 5

Make the denominators the same:-

Example 1
2 / 3 + 1 / 4
8 / 12 + 3 / 12
11 / 12

Example 2
2 / 5 + 1 / 3
6 / 15 + 5 / 15
11 / 15

Hope these help.

Answer 6

Look first for the least common denominator then convert the numerator in proportion to the increase of its denominator then add all the numerators put it over the least common denominator. The new fraction is the sum of added fractions.

Answer 7

You can't add fractions if the denominators are different. If that case, the values are undetermined and the equation can't be solved. It's undefined. You can't solve for a variable that doesn't exist.

To make a common denominator - multiply the denominators so they share a multiple. From there, you can cross-multiply and easily solve for x.

Answer 8

find the least common denominator, then multiply the top numbers by the same number