Quizzes & Puzzles8 mins ago
Multiplying fractions
Not sure if science is the best place for this maths question, but here goes.....Can anyone help with a simple explanation of how to multiply fractions so I can help my daughter with her homework? Rules for addition and subtraction of fractions are also very welcome. At present the sums are very easy (and as my maths skills are generally good I can see the answers easily) but I can't remember how I was taught to do this at school!
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For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.To add or subtract you must first find a common denominator (the number below the line). One way is to multiply them, but is more common to find the smallest. You can multiply (or divide) both numerator and denominator of a fraction by anything other than zero and its value will not change. So the idea is to get the denominators the same and just add the numerators. For example 1/4 + 1/3, smallest common denominator is 12, so multiply 1/4 by 3(top AND bottom), to get 3/12, and 1/3 by 4 (top AND bottom) to get 4/12 add them to get 7/12