+129852 The division of whole numbers by fractions seems to be confusing to many people - even to some forum members!!! And I can see why.......
Yesterday....we had this problem.......
48 divided by -6/7
We are taught the "order of operations" thing, so it seems "logical" to apply it here.....that is....
Evaluate 48/-6, first = -8
Then, divide this result by 7 = -1.1428571428571429
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To keep from making this mistake, remember to "convert" the "48" to (48/1) so that we have....
(48/1) /(-6/7) ...and now apply the "KEEP" "CHANGE" "FLIP" rule.....
"KEEP" the first fraction.... (48/1)
"CHANGE" the division to multiplication
"FLIP" the second fraction (-6/7) → (7/-6)
So we have.....
(48/1) * (7/-6) =
(48/-6) * (7/1) =
-8 * 7 =
-56
Notice how, in the second step, I "exchanged" denominators......we can often do this in the multiplication of fractions in order to make the "cancelling" easier. Note...this will NOT work with the addition, subtraction or division of fractions!!! Be careful!!!!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As one final word....note that when we divide a whole number by something that has an absolute value greater than 0, but less than 1, that we have to end up with a result that has an absolute value greater than the absolute value of the whole number itself!!!
Hope this helps !!!!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As an edit...also remember that dividing things having the same signs results in a positive, while dividing things with different signs results in a negative....just like the rules for multiplication!!!
+11912 Thanks for that CPhill!its really helps..................that question was getting confusing slowly and slowly yntil i found the mystery..........................poor Zegroes wasnt interested in the Treasure Hunt and just ran away .................and even lost the match!!!
i know i know .......you are reallly sad after losing the game Zegroes.....
but dont be sad like this,...................................................................that problem was not a big deal!
+11912 OOps sorry!i should have said Answer Hunt!
But treasure or answer , not much difference though!
But whatever it is , i just know (u too know) , that u lost it!
+3454 Great explanation CPhill. Thanks for clearing that up for everyone.
I'm going to go ahead and add this post to the "Reference Material" thread. I think this post should fit well there!
