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How to Solve Adding Fractions

Working with fractions is a necessary skill in a variety of situations. For example, cooking often requires adding different fractional amounts of ingredients, sewing usually involves adding fractions as you work with fabric and many home improvement projects have measurement fractions that you must add. Teach the basics of numerators and denominators to prepare the fractions for adding and then solve the problem.

Instructions

    • 1

      Write out the fractions you wish to add on paper where you have room to figure.

    • 2

      Examine the denominators of the fractions. You cannot add fractions unless the denominators are the same. For example, if you wish to add 5/6 + 2/6, the denominators are the same, so you can add them. If you wish to add 2/3 and 1/6, the denominators are not the same, so you must convert the fractions so they have the same denominator.

    • 3

      Convert the fractions, if necessary. Using the same example, convert 2/3 to make it have a common denominator with 1/6. Multiply both the numerator and the denominator by the same number -- 2. Multiply 2 * 2 = 4 and 3 * 2 = 6 -- 2/3 becomes 4/6.

    • 4

      Add the fractions after they have common denominators. Add the fractions by adding the numerators and placing the sum of the numerators over the same denominator. Using the same example, add 4/6 + 1/6 = 5/6.

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