may someone please help me on fractions? ineed help in understanding this...

Question

how does 3-1/9=3 8/9?
please and thank you.

Answer 1

 3 - 1/9 = 2 + 9/9 - 1/9 = 2 8/9

 

   Just break 3: 

 

  3 = 2 + 1 = 2 + 9/9

 

   You let it to be 9/9, so that it has the same denominator as 1/9 , so you could subtract 1/9 from it.

Answer 2

Well 3 - 1/9 = 2 8/9, not 3 8/9

 

To add or subtract fractions, you need to put them over a common denominator, which should be 9 in this case.  To convert 3 into an improper fraction over 9, multiply 3 by 9/9

 

3 = 3/1 * 9/9 = 27/9

 

So now we can subtract 1/9 from 3:

 

27/9 - 1/9 = 26/9 = 18/9 + 8/9 = 2 8/9

 

You might also try looking at the following tutorial on fractions:

 

http://www.wyzant.com/resources/lessons/math/elementary_math/fractions