How Do You Add & Subtract Fractions?
Most elementary and middle school students find fractions fairly easy when they first encounter them. However, when you throw addition and subtraction into the mix, subtractions become quite difficult. Adding and subtracting fractions is often confusing because of the denominator. Just what are you supposed to do with it, anyway? By taking the process apart and analyzing each step, many students find adding and subtracting with fractions to be a little bit easier. Here are some tips you can use to make adding and subtracting fractions a little bit easier. Look at the fractions and see if they have the same denominator. If they do, it is called having a common denominator. Add the fractions by adding or subtracting the numerators and keeping the denominators the same (1/3 + 1/3 = 2/3). Change any fractions that do not have a common denominator. You cannot add them until the denominators are the same. Find the least common multiple of the fractions. This requires that you factor them dow