William W. answered • 03/04/21
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Math and science made easy - learn from a retired engineer
"Difference" means subtracting the two numbers but to subtract fractions, we need a common denominator. That would be eighths. 2 1/4 would become 2 2/8. But when you subtract there are not enough eighths (2/8 - 3/8 doesn't work). So we need to borrow from the number "2". There are 8/8 in 1 so we can write 2 2/8 as 1 10/8.
1 10/8 - 3/8 = 1 7/8
