I gotcha covered.
So, let's separate the problem to its individual components.
We have -1/3
and we're subtracting (-)
- 4/9
Now, we can see that we have two minus signs right next to each other.
If that occurs, we can change the two minus signs to one positive sign. It's just a rule in math.
So, we can rewrite the problem:
-1/3 - (- 4/9) can be rewritten to:
-1/3 + 4/9
But!!! We're not finished yet. The denominators (that means bottom part of a fraction) are not the same.
The denominators most of the time have to be same.
We have a 3 and a 9...
How do we make them the same? I gotcha covered again.
There's the criss-cross method, also known as cross multiplication, but I won't go over that because there's an easier way for this problem.
Here's the easier way:
3 * ? = 9
? = 3
So, 3 * 3 = 9.
We can multiply the - 1/3 by 3 to get the common denominator of 9.
There's a rule for this too... what we multiply by the denominator, we also MUST multiply that same number to the numerator (the top part of a fraction).
So, - 1/3 * (3/3) = - 3/9.
We can then add the fractions together since they have the same denominator.
Here it is:
- 3/9 + 4/9
Since - 3/9 is negative, we subtract that from 4/9...
Rewritten, we have:
4/9 - 3/9 = 1/9.
The denominators don't get changed unless we multiply or divide, so we only do the math for the numerators.
1/9 is the answer.
Good luck, and if you have more questions then please leave a comment!