Simplifying a Complex Fraction

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Taught by muchomath
  • Currently 4.0/5 Stars.
6529 views | 1 rating
Meets NCTM Standards:
Lesson Summary:

In this lesson, we learn how to simplify a complex fraction. To do so, we use the lowest common denominator of all four fractions to clear the fractions out, and then we multiply both the numerator and denominator by our LCD, and distribute to each term. We then look for the greatest common factors and factor the difference of two squares into the product of the conjugates to obtain our simplified answer.

Lesson Description:

Learn how to simplify a complex fraction.

Created by and copyright of Larry Perez. Funded by the state of California through Saddleback College. More information on videos, resources, and lessons at Algebra2Go.

Questions answered by this video:
  • What is a complex fraction?
  • How do you simplify a complex fraction?
  • How do you simplify (9/x - 9/y)/(2/x^2 - 2/y^2)?
  • How do you simplify a complex fraction by multiplying by the lowest common denominator?
  • Staff Review

    • Currently 4.0/5 Stars.
    In this video, you will learn how to simplify a complex fraction by multiplying by the least common denominator. This is a very nice technique to use with what seems to be a very complicated problem. You must also factor the numerator and denominator to fully simplify the expression.