Grade 7, Fractions, decimals and percents
Subtract fractions
Subtract fractions with the same bottom number, then with related and unlike bottom numbers, and write the difference in lowest terms.
Three levels
One skill, rising difficulty
Each sheet carries one level. The three are the same skill at rising difficulty, each named for what it practises.
- Level 1: Same bottom number
- Subtract. Write the answer in lowest terms.
- Level 2: One bottom number is a multiple of the other
- Subtract. Write the answer in lowest terms.
- Level 3: Unlike bottom numbers to 12
- Subtract. Write the answer in lowest terms.
Worked example
How the sheet explains it
The helper printed at the top of each sheet: one solved example and the steps a student follows, before the first question. Every number sentence in it is proven by the same checker as the answer key.
Level 1: Same bottom number
7/8 − 3/8 = 1/2
- Same bottom numbers: subtract the top numbers and keep the bottom. 7 − 3 = 4, so 7/8 − 3/8 = 4/8.
- Write it in lowest terms: 4/8 = 1/2.
- If no whole number more than 1 divides both the top and the bottom, it is already in lowest terms.
Level 2: One bottom number is a multiple of the other
5/6 − 1/3 = 1/2
- Make the bottom numbers the same: 6 = 3 × 2, so multiply the top and the bottom of 1/3 by 2: 1/3 = 2/6.
- Subtract the tops, keep the bottom: 5/6 − 2/6 = 3/6.
- Write it in lowest terms: 3/6 = 1/2.
Level 3: Unlike bottom numbers to 12
9/10 − 1/6 = 11/15
- Find the lowest common multiple of the bottom numbers: for 10 and 6 it is 30.
- Multiply the top and the bottom of 9/10 by 3 and of 1/6 by 5: 9/10 = 27/30 and 1/6 = 5/30.
- Subtract the tops, keep the bottom: 27/30 − 5/30 = 22/30.
- Write it in lowest terms: 22/30 = 11/15.
Goes with
Reference sheets
No reference sheet is written for this skill yet.
Every reference, facts and support sheet is listed in the worksheet catalogue.
In the BC curriculum
Content standards
The British Columbia content standard this skill is written for, by the codes used across this site:
- bc.math.7.c.4
The wording of each standard is on the Province's mathematics curriculum page.
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