hello! I’m taking basic algebra in college right now and I never learned how to simplify fractions in grade school or high school because I never really tried to learn but now I want to so I can make sure I’m doing it right. I’m having a hard time with it and everything I’ve googled just doesn’t make sense to me. Please help.
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to simplify fractions,both numbers on top and bottom must be divivded by a common denominator i.e a whole number.
example, 4/8 can be divided by 2 to give 2/4 and further divided by 2 again to give 1/2. since 1 cannot be divided by 2 to give a whole number, 1/2 is the simplified fraction.
same example but divided by 4 to give 1/2 and can no longer be divided further.
another example, 20/50 can be divided by 5 to give 4/10,then divided by 2 to give 2/5. if it was divided by 10,then it’s 2/5 and can no longer be divided.
the rule here is both numerator and denominator must be divided by the same whole number to give a whole number until it cannot be divided anymore. This is what simplified fractions or simplification is all about.
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