Question

Mrs. Cho wrote the following problem on the board.What should Mrs. Cho do next? Find a common denominator for the two fractions. Divide the numerator and denominator of the first fraction by x2 and y. Multiply the numerators, multiply the denominators, and then simplify. Multiply the first fraction by the reciprocal of the second fraction.

Answer 1

Hello!

The answer is: Multiply the numerators, multiply the denominators, and then simplify.

Why?

Let's discard each given option in order to find the correct one.

First option,

Find a common denominator for the two fractions:

Incorrect, there Mrs. Cho does not need to find a common denominator since it's a fraction multiplication. We find common denominators when we are doing additions or subtractions of fractions.

Second Option,

Divide the numerator and denominator of the first fraction by x2 and y:

Incorrect, Mrs. Cho does not need to divide the numerator and denominator of the first fraction by x2 and y, doing that would not help at all, it's a useless step.

Third Option,

Multiply the numerators, multiply the denominators, and then simplify:

Correct, Mrs. Cho should multiply and then, simplify the result:

`(y-2x^(2))/(x^(2)y)*(1)/(y-2x^(2))=(1)/(x^(2)y )`

As we can see,the fraction is simplified because the first fraction numerator and the second fraction denominator are equal.

Fourth Option,

Multiply the first fraction by the reciprocal of the second fraction:

Incorrect, Mrs. Cho does not need to multiply the first fraction by the reciprocal of the second fraction since it's not a fraction division.

Have a nice day!

Answer 2

The third choice.

Explanation:

He should multiply the numerators and multiply the denominators.