Question

Write -39/12 as a mixed number in reduced form.

Answer 1

The answer is -3 3/12 or -3 1/4

Answer 2

`-3(1)/(4)`

Explanation:

We have:

`(-39)/(12)`

the first thing we can do is reduce this expression by dividing each number by 3:

`(-39/3)/(12/3) =(-13)/(4)`

Now that we have reduced the expression, we can still represent this number as a mixed number.

if we divide -13 by 4 we don't get an exact number (we get -3.25) thus we are going to have a mixed number which is formed by an integer and a fraction.

The integer in the mixed number we find by how many time does the number 4 fit into the number 13 exactly - the answer to this is 3 times. And since the number is negative the integer of the mixed number is -3.

The fraction is how much is letf after we take the whole number out, this is, 4 fits 3 times into the number 13 because 4*3=12 but have
`(1)/(4)` left, this will be the fraction part of the mixed number

so the answer is
`-3(1)/(4)`