Business Mathematics (Lesson 2)

Operations on Fractions

Let’s define what similar and dissimilar fractions are first.

Similar Fractions

1 7 3 5 8
 Fractions having same denominator like
4
, , , ,
4 4 4 4

Dissimilar Fractions

1 7 3 5 8
 Fractions having different denominator like
2
, , , ,
4 3 7 5

Adding and Subtracting Similar Fractions

When adding and subtracting similar fractions we will just copy the denominator then add or
subtract the denominator.

Example:

1 2
Let’s add +
4 4

1+ 2
Step 1: Just copy the denominator which is 4 and add the numerator
4

3
Step 1: Add and reduce the fraction to lowest term if possible
4
.

3
Thus, is our final answer.
4

4 −3
Let’s subtract 5 5

4−3
Step 1: Just copy the denominator which is 4 and subtract the numerator
5

1
Step 2: Subtract and reduce the fraction to lowest term if possible
5
.
 1
Thus, is our final answer.
5

6 10
Let’s try this one, 2 +5
5 5

Step 1: Just copy the denominator which is 8 and add the whole number separately and the
6+10 16
numerator 2+5
5
. Then the expression will now be 7 .
5

16 1
Step 2: Change the improper fraction into mixed number, which will become3 then add it
5 5
1
to 7. The answer will be 10
5
.
6 10 1
Thus, the sum of 2 +5 is 10
5 5 5

Adding and Subtracting Dissimilar Fractions

When adding and subtracting similar fractions we will find first the LCM of the denominator,
and write it as our LCD then get the numerator.

For example:

1 +3
2 5

Step 1: Find the LCM of the numerator, LCM means least common multiple we can get LCM by
using listing method we will list the multiples in order to find the LCM.

2: 2,4,6,8,10

5: 5,10,15,20

We can now get the LCM by finding what is the smallest number that they have in common.

Thus, their LCM is 10

❑
Step 2: Write their LCM as their LCD. Now we can write it as 10 but our numerator is still
blank. We can get the new numerator using this method.
1 +3
2 5
= (1010/2) ( 1 ) + (10 10
/5) ( 3 )
Divide the new denominator by the old denominator then

multiply it to the original numerator.

5
Thus, the answer will be
10
+ 106 . Now that we have the same denominator we can add it
directly.

11
Therefore, the final answer will be
10
or 1 101

For example:

3 −1
5 3

Step 1: Find the LCM of the numerator, LCM means least common multiple we can get LCM by
using listing method we will list the multiples in order to find the LCM.

3: 3,6,9,12,15

5: 5,10,15,20

We can now get the LCM by finding what is the smallest number that they have in common.

Thus, their LCM is 15

❑
Step 2: Write their LCM as their LCD. Now we can write it as 15 but our numerator is still
blank. We can get the new numerator using this method.

/5) ( 3 ) /3) ( 1 )
3 −1
5 3
= (15 15 + (15 15 Divide the new denominator by the old denominator then

multiply it to the original numerator.

9
Thus, the answer will be
15
- 155 . Now that we have the same denominator we can subtract it
directly.

4
Therefore, the final answer will be
15
.