What is #-3 3/5 - 4 2/5#?

1 Answer
Mar 29, 2016

-8

Explanation:

The easiest way to do this type of problem is to first put all of the terms in fractional form with a common denominator.

Both are already in terms of 5ths, so it will be easy to convert the whole numbers to the fraction by multiplying them by the denominator (5) and adding it to the fraction.

3*5 = 15, plus the 3/5 = -18/5 (keeping the sign the same), and

4*5 = 20 plus the 2/5 = -22/5

-18/5 – 22/5 = - 40/5

You may see that this can be simplified to a whole number by doing the division: - 8