Let’s start by making a common denominator of 12:
-1 1/3 as a fraction with 12 as the denominator equals -1 4/12, because we would have to multiply all numbers by 4.
Given the two numbers -1 1/3 and 12 7/12, we can now convert into an improper fraction:
12 • 1 = 12
12 + 4 = 16
Our improper fraction conversion for -1 1/3 would be -16/12.
As for converting 12 7/12 to an improper fraction:
12 • 12 = 144
144 + 7 = 151
Our improper fraction conversion for 12 7/12 would be 151/12.
Given the two fractions -16/12 and 151/12, we can add to find the distance:
-16/12 + 151/12 = 135/12
The distance between these two numbers is 135/12, but we are not done.
Let’s convert back to a mixed number:
12 • 11 = 132
132 + 3 = 135
Therefore, our mixed number conversion would be 11 3/12. That reduces to 11 1/4. The distance between the two numbers on a number line is 11 1/4 units.