Whats 12 divided by 1/3?

Question

35480 views around the world

You can reuse this answer
Creative Commons License

Answer 1 · 2015-09-10T02:44:52

#12 -: 1/3 = 12 * 3/1 = 36#

In general, you can divide by a rational expression by multiplying by the same expression with numerator and denominator swapped. That is:

#a -: b/c = a * c/b#

For example:

#3/5 -: 7/5 = 3/5 * 5/7 = (3*color(red)(cancel(color(black)(5)))) / (color(red)(cancel(color(black)(5)))*7) = 3/7#

or even:

#(x + 1) / (x + 2) -: (x + 3) / (x + 4) = (x+1) / (x+2) * (x+4)/(x+3)#

Answer 2 · 2015-09-10T02:47:10

36

#12 -: 1/3 = 12 * 3 = 36#