How do you subtract #-3/14# from the sum of #1/7# and #-1/2#?

1 Answer

#-1/7#

Explanation:

We are subtracting the quantity #-3/14# from the sum of #1/7# and #-1/2#. Putting this all together gives:

#(1/7+(-1/2))-(-3/14)#

Let's put all of the denominators to be 14:

#(1/7 (2/2)+(-1/2)7/7)-(-3/14)#

#(2/14 +(-7/14))-(-3/14)#

And now we work through the brackets. #2+(-7)# is the same as #2-7#, which gives us #-5#:

#(-5/14)-(-3/14)#

#-5-(-3)# is the same as #-5+3# which gives us #-2#:

#-2/14#

And we can reduce this fraction down:

#-2/14=-(2xx1)/(2xx7)=-1/7#