Adding unlike fractions, step by step
Fractions with unlike bottoms cannot be added yet.
The question
+
+
+
same size:24ths
=
=
=
=
+=
- Eighths and sixths are different sizes of piece. Two different sizes cannot be counted as one total — that is the whole difficulty here.
- Both can be cut into 24ths: 8 goes into 24, and so does 6. So 24 is the size to use.
- 3/8 is the same amount as 9/24, and 2/6 is the same amount as 8/24. Nothing has got bigger — the pieces just got smaller and there are more of them.
- Now they are the same size, so count them: 9 + 8 = 17, giving 17/24.
How it works.
- 01
Eighths and sixths are different sizes of piece. Two different sizes cannot be counted as one total — that is the whole difficulty here.
- 02
Both can be cut into 24ths: 8 goes into 24, and so does 6. So 24 is the size to use.
- 03
3/8 is the same amount as 9/24, and 2/6 is the same amount as 8/24. Nothing has got bigger — the pieces just got smaller and there are more of them.
- 04
Now they are the same size, so count them: 9 + 8 = 17, giving 17/24.