the problem is 17/24 - 5/18 and to put it in lowest terms. First I got 26/72 and brought it down to 13/36. Is this the right answer? I put them both in LCD and subtracted only the numerator and left the denominator
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When I made the common denominator 72, I got a different numerator compared to yours.
This is what I did:
(17/24) - (5/18)
(51/72) - (20/72) = (31/72)
24 x 3 = 72, so the numerator is 51 when you multiply 17 x 3
18 x 4 = 72, so the numerator is 20 when you multiply 5 x 4
If the correct answer is 31/72, then you wouldn't be able to simplify it anymore.
Your technique to get the answer is correct, but I think there might have been some computation errors..
This is what I did:
(17/24) - (5/18)
(51/72) - (20/72) = (31/72)
24 x 3 = 72, so the numerator is 51 when you multiply 17 x 3
18 x 4 = 72, so the numerator is 20 when you multiply 5 x 4
If the correct answer is 31/72, then you wouldn't be able to simplify it anymore.
Your technique to get the answer is correct, but I think there might have been some computation errors..