Question

How do you simplify `\frac { 5( 1- 4) } { 1- 8}`?

Answer 1

The answer is `15/7`.

Explanation:

Simplify within parentheses.

`5(-3)/(1-8)`

Simplify the denominator.

`(5(-3))/-7`

Simplify the numerator.

`-15/-7`

Cancel divide the fraction by `-1`.

The answer is `15/7`.

Answer 2

Simplification.

Explanation:

You can subtract `4` from `1` to get `-3`

`(5(-3))/(1-8)`

Then you can subtract `8` from `1` to get `-7`

`(5(-3))/-7`

Then multiply `5` and `-3` to get `-15`

`(-15)/-7`

since both the numerator and the denominator have a negative sign, we can cancel it out

`15/7`

There's your fractional answer. if you need a decimal answer just do some long division, and your answer should be `2.bar(142857)`.