How do you simplify \frac{15}{2}-45?

1 Answer
Jun 14, 2017

The solution is -75/2 .

Explanation:

To subtract numbers involving fractions, both have to have the same DENOMINATOR.

15/2 has the denominator 2.
-45 has the denominator 1.

Since 2 and 1 are not the same, change -45 to have a denominator of 2 to make both fractions have the same denominator.

To give -45 a denominator of 2, multiply -45 by 2/2.

[We can multiply by 2/2 because 2/2 = 1, which means we didn't change the original problem! ]

You should end up with 15/2 - 90/2 .
[The 90 came from -45 * 2 = -90]

Now that they have the same denominator, subtract 90 from 15 to get your new numerator, -75!
15-90=-75

Keep the DENOMINATOR as 2 because when subtracting fractions, the denominator DOES NOT CHANGE.

-75/2 cannot be simplified, so your final answer should be -75/2 .