Question 535789: I am terrible with fractions and I don't even know where to start with a problem like this: 5/8x+1/16x=3/16+x. Please help
Found 2 solutions by Earlsdon, lwsshak3:
Answer by Earlsdon(6294)   (Show Source):
Answer by lwsshak3(11628) (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website! am terrible with fractions and I don't even know where to start with a problem like this: 5/8x+1/16x=3/16+x. Please help
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The general rule when working with fractions in equations is to place all the terms with x's to the left and place numbers to the right. I don't think you have a problem with this step.
The next step is to combine the x-terms, where you seem to have a problem because they involve fractions. Again, the general rule is to find the common denominator and multiply each term by the common denominator, which would make all the fractions disappear. With fractions with small numbers, there is another method which I would suggest. Basically, we would change the denominators of all the fractions to the same number.
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(5/8)x+(1/16)x=3/16+x (I have added ( ) around the fractions so you can see them as coefficients, not part of the denominator.
move x to the left and change its sign
(5/8)x+(1/16)x-x=3/16
you now need to add 5/8, 1/16 and 1 to combine the x-terms
Why don't we change one of the two fractions and 1 to have the same denominator(16)
To do this, multiply the top and bottom by a number which will make the bottom=16.
5/8=5*2/8*2=10/16
1=16/16
The equation now reads:
(10/16)x+(1/16)x-(16/16)x=3/16
add the numerators
(-5/16)x=3/16
x=(3/16)/(-5/16)
denominators cancel out
x=-3/5
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In other words, when working with small fractions, it is sometimes easier to change the denominators to a common number then simply add or subtract the numerators to come up with a single fraction.
Hope this helps.
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