George read 3/8 of his book on Thursday and 1/6 of his book on Friday. What fraction of his book did he read altogether on these days?

1 Answer
Dec 3, 2016

#(13/24)#

Explanation:

To add fractions you need to have the same number in the denominator of each one. This is called the “Least common denominator”. We find it by factoring each denominator into prime numbers, and then recombining the “common factors”.

For 8, the factors are #2*2*2# and for 6 they are #2*3#. Recombining only the ‘unique factors’ we obtain the least common denominator: #2*2*2*3 = 24#.

Now we can convert our given fractions into ones that can be added together by multiplying each one by the factors not originally in their factors.

#(3/8) * (3/3) = (9/24)# and #(1/6)*(4/4) = (4/24)#

#(9/24) + (4/24) = (13/24)#