15-11-2017, 10:11 PM
3473
Re: Leisurely Scribbles (part 5)
M'main people!
Yo....t'is good t'be here in...umm...slightly bemused condition...
Yes. Y'see,we all went for a curry circa a week back. My mate'd quaffed a few,causing him to trip over his own feet and execute a perfect faceplant on the stone floor in the middle of a packed Indian restaurant.
He's now in a korma..... [AI THENKYOH!]
Oh,btw,spitty....there are genuinely such things as 'LEAST common denominators',old chap! Lemme explain. Yes,I do KNOW y'all know this sdtuff already....but ol' spits...well...he juss LUVZ this kinda thang,y'all....so,for my mate spitfire -
It's difficult to add or subtract fractions when the denominators are not the same. Ergo,the use of a common denominator. It's usually easiest to use the least common denominator. The least common denominator is simply the least common
multiple (LCM) of the two denominators.
SO:Find the common denominator of the fractions;16 and 38. To do so,we need to find the least common multiple of 6 and 8. One way to do this is to list the multiples: 6,12,18,24 − − ,30,36,42,48,...8,16,24 − − ,32,40,48. As you see,the first number that occurs in both lists is 24,so 24 is the LCM. Thus we use this as our common denominator. SEE?SIMPLES!
Listing multiples is obviously impractical for large numbers,so another way to find the LCM of two numbers is to divide their product by their greatest common factor. I.E;find the common denominator of the fractions 512 and 215. The greatest common factor of 12 and 15 is 3. So,to find the
least common multiple,divide the product number by 3. So;12⋅153=3 ⋅ 4 ⋅ 153=60. If you can find a least common denominator, then the problem can be re-written,using equivalent fractions that have like denominators,so they're easy to add or subtract. IE:Add 512 +215.
In the earlier equasion,you saw the least common denominator was 60. So now,we'd use or write each fraction as an equivalent fraction,with the denominator 60. To do this,multiply both numerator
and denominator of the first fraction by 5 and the numerator and denominator of the second fraction by 4.This equates to multiplying by 1=55 =44 [so it doesn't change the value] 512=512⋅55=2560215=215⋅44=860. 512 +215 =2560+860=3360 This method may not always give the result in lowest terms,in which case we have to simplify. But,I feel a wave of "Ohshitpleasetellimtoshuttup" sweeping through our blessed pages....so,I shall cease forthwith.....umm....hello,chaps. [and chappette,natch]