Simplifying Fractions - GRE Quantitative Reasoning

_x_2 – _y_2 can be also expressed as (x + y)(x – y).

Therefore, the fraction now can be re-written as (x + y)(x – y)/(x + y).

This simplifies to (x – y).

Following this equation, you divide 4 by 8 to get 1/2. When a variable is raised to an exponent, and you are dividing, you subtract the exponents, so 6 – 3 = 3.

125 goes into 2000 evenly 16 times. 1/16 is the fraction in its simplest form.

120 goes into 6000 evenly 50 times, so we get 1/50 as our simplified fraction.

(2_x_ + 4)/(x + 2)

To simplify you must first factor the top polynomial to 2(x + 2). You may then eliminate the identical (x + 2) from the top and bottom leaving 2.

Set up the conversions as fractions and solve:

To simplify exponents which are being divided, subtract the exponents on the bottom from exponents on the top. Remember that only exponents with the same bases can be simplified

Factor both the numerator and the denominator:

After reducing the fraction, all that remains is:

Notice that the term appears frequently. Let's try to factor that out:

Now multiply both the numerator and denominator by the conjugate of the denominator:

The numerator and denominator are both divisible by 12. Thus, we divide both by 12 to get our final answer.

If we instead divide by another common factor, we may need to complete the process again to make sure that we have completely reduced the fraction.

In mathematical words we get the following:

This can be solved using 2 methods.

The most time-efficient solution would recognize that is the largest value and nearly equals the sum the other fraction by itself.

The more time consuming method would be to convert each fraction to decimal form and calculate the sum of each quantity.

Quantity A:

Quantity B:

When we factor the numerator and denominator, we get:

.

After cancelling , we are left with .

With common denominators, the range is from

or

.

The only fraction that falls in either of these ranges is .

If is even, then is not in lowest terms, since both and 4 are divisible by 2. Therefore, the only possibilities are 27,29,31,33, and 35. But , , and , so only two integers satisfy the given condition: 29 and 31.

In order to find out the probability of choosing a boy, you must first find out how many boys there are. Since there are girls out of students, students should be boys.

Therefore, the probability of choosing a boy is,

.

However, this is not one of the answer choices; therefore, you must reduce the fraction.

In order to reduce a fraction, you have to find their GCM, or greatest common multiple. This is the biggest number that will go into both the numerator and denominator . The largest number is . Divide both the top and bottom by , and you will get the answer:

To simplify the fraction

It may be helpful to write it in terms of scientific notation:

To simplify the fraction

Begin by factoring out common terms in the numerator and denominator:

Now notice that the coefficients for the polynomials in the numerator and denominator match the form of Pascal's Triangle:

The fraction can be rewritten as:

And finally reduced to

With this problem the first thing to do is cancel out variables. The x2 can all be divided by each other because they are present in each system. The equation will now look like this:

Now we can see that the equation can all be divided by y, leaving the answer to be:

_x_2 – _y_2 can be also expressed as (x + y)(x – y).

Therefore, the fraction now can be re-written as (x + y)(x – y)/(x + y).

This simplifies to (x – y).