How do you subtract fractions from a whole number

Im trying to figure out this question and not just the answer.

Of the 36 students in a class, 2/3 of them were females. How many were males?

The answer is 12... the way I figured it out was divide the whole number by the bottom of the fraction... and then multiply it by the number you are trying to find, in this case being the 1/3 of males in the class:)

Divide the number of students by the denominator, (3) which will equal 12.

12 is 1/3 of 36, so multiply that by 2, which gives you 24, which is 2/3.

This applies to all fractions, when dividing the total sum by the denominator, it becomes 1/(x)

x being the denominator you divided by.

in this question, you actually multiply by 1/3 and not subtract, because it is a fraction "of"..

36 * 1/3
= 12 males

So 1/3 are males, Just divide 36 by 3, If you where tring to figure out 1/4 you would divide 36 by 4 and same if you wanted to figure out 1/8th you would divide 36 by 8.

if 2/3 of the class was females, 1-2/3 are male
1-2/3 = 3/3-2/3 = (3-2)/3 = 1/3
1/3 * 36 = 36/3 = 12 males

36 * 2/3 = 24

24 were female

36 - 24 = 12

12 were male