Simplifying a fraction

J

jacksonhs

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Feb 3, 2020
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How would I go about simplifying:

"h" divided by (6h+36) ?

Thank you,

Jackson
 
I would try factoring the numerator, if possible, then I would try factoring the denominator, if possible, then I would try to reduce, if possible.

More importantly what have you tried? In order to receive help from this forum you must show us your work so that we know exactly what you need help with.

Also write the problem as h/(6h+36)
 
Thank you for your response. I'm wondering if it's possible to get a quotient that does not include the variable. Part of me thinks it is possible, because two identical variables are in both the numerator and the denominator - so I'm thinking there has to be a way to cancel them out. However, I'm struggling to figure out how to get the fraction into a form that would make it easy to cancel out the variables, such as: h(4x)/h .

The problem I posted initially is the result of 2 pages of preceding work, so I did not show/type it.

Thanks again,

Jackson
 
One thing to be aware of is that phrase "if possible". Sometimes there is no simplifying to do, and you just leave it as it is. That is not failure!

But if there is something to do, you find it by factoring; not seeing that something can be simplified is failure!
 
if you think that the h should cancel out then you are saying that the fraction does not depend on what h equals ( because it cancels out). So test this. Let h=2. Then you have (2)/(6(2)+36) = (2)/(12+36)=2/48 = 1/24. Now let h=3. Then we get (3)/(6(3)+36) = 3/(18+36) = 3/54 = 1/17. Since we got different results then the h's do not cancel out. Do you understand that?

Consider 2h/(3h). No matter what you pick for h (except 0), you will always get 2/3. That is the h's cancel out.
 
Jomo said:
if you think that the h should cancel out then you are saying that the fraction does not depend on what h equals ( because it cancels out). So test this. Let h=2. Then you have (2)/(6(2)+36) = (2)/(12+36)=2/48 = 1/24. Now let h=3. Then we get (3)/(6(3)+36) = 3/(18+36) = 3/54 = 1/17. Since we got different results then the h's do not cancel out. Do you understand that?

Consider 2h/(3h). No matter what you pick for h (except 0), you will always get 2/3. That is the h's cancel out.
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Who is the man in your profile photo? He looks *exactly* like my step dad, but my step dad wouldn't be in this forum. Who is it? Thanks.
 
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