Question

How do you simplify `5/8 div -1/2`?

Answer 1

See a solution process below:

Explanation:

First, we can rewrite this expression as:

`(5/8)/((-1)/2)`

Now, we can use this rule for dividing fractions to simplify the expression:

`(color(red)(a)/color(blue)(b))/(color(green)(c)/color(purple)(d)) = (color(red)(a) xx color(purple)(d))/(color(blue)(b) xx color(green)(c))`

`(color(red)(5)/color(blue)(8))/(color(green)(-1)/color(purple)(2)) => (color(red)(5) xx color(purple)(2))/(color(blue)(8) xx color(green)(-1)) => (color(red)(5) xx cancel(color(purple)(2))color(purple)(1))/(cancel(color(blue)(8))color(blue)(4) xx color(green)(-1)) => 5/-4 = -5/4`

Answer 2

`-1.25`

Explanation:

First, let's forget about the negative sign, and just focus on the numbers. `5/8\divide1/2`= `5/8*2`=`5/4`=`1.25`. Now we bring the negative sign back in to get `-1.25`.