Question

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

Answer 1

See the entire simplification process below:

Explanation:

We can rewrite this express as:

`(5/1)/(1/8)`

The rule for dividing fractions is:

`(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))`

Substituting the values from this problem gives:

`(color(red)(5)/color(blue)(1))/(color(green)(1)/color(purple)(8)) = (color(red)(5) xx color(purple)(8))/(color(blue)(1) xx color(green)(1)) = 40/1 = 40`