Can you split a numerator

Featured on Meta. Now live: A fully responsive profile. The unofficial elections nomination post. Related 2. Hot Network Questions. Question feed. Mathematics Stack Exchange works best with JavaScript enabled. Okay, so now that we have the reciprocal issue out of the way, the question then becomes, why do we need reciprocals in the first place? Well, the answer lies in the rule for dividing fractions. The rule for dividing fractions is you take the first fraction and multiply it by the reciprocal of the second fraction.

Yes, you heard that right: to divide, you end up multiplying, but only after first flipping the second fraction around. Flipping the second fraction around finding its reciprocal changes the value of the equation.

In order to keep the equation mathematically the same, we have to change the division question into a multiplication question. Take a look at the following example to see how this is done. Step 1 : Put the question into a form that you can work with. This involves finding the reciprocal of the second fraction and then multiplying it by the first. Step 2 : Follow the same procedure as we did when multiplying fractions. Multiply the numerators together and then multiply the denominators together.

Factor both denominators:. Build up the fractions so that they both have the LCD for a denominator: keep both denominators in factored form to make it easier to see what factors they need to look like the LCD. Now that they are over the same denominator, you can add the numerators:. Home Simplifying Rational Expressions.

Place the quotient of the division outside the fraction, and set the remainder as the new numerator. The denominator stays the same.

You can convert a mixed fraction into an improper fraction, using the reverse process. To convert a mixed fraction into an improper fraction, multiply the number outside the fraction by the denominator, then add it to the numerator. First, multiply 3 times 6 to get Then, add 3 to the numerator of 18, which results in Jon Zamboni began writing professionally in He has previously written for The Spiritual Herald, an urban health care and religious issues newspaper based in New York City, and online music magazine eBurban.

Zamboni has a Bachelor of Arts in religious studies from Wesleyan University. How to Multiply and Divide Mixed Fractions. How to Divide Rational Numbers.