iceman2010 wrote:hi guys,

I have a general question about solving complex fractions...

Say with the e.g. 7/2/3, How do we decide whether the above is 7 by 2/3 OR 7/2 by 3? hence to solve this, do we go with 7*3/2 OR 7/2*3 ?

again generally:

If we have a complex fraction - a/b/c, does this get translated to:

1. a/b/c/1 = a/b*c

OR

2. a/1/b/c = a*c/b

how does one decide where the 'by' bit goes?!!

thanks

Always mind the leading bar in such cases, coolman!! Remember that fraction 1 upon fraction 2 = fraction 1 multiplied to reciprocal of fraction 2, in your example problem, a/b/c is clearly not mentioning of what to take as the leading bar, which separates the possible fraction 1 from the other possible fraction 2.

If one rewrites it as (a/b)/c or a/(b/c), then the bar in bold represents the leading bar, and we interpret and work that out accordingly as under:

(a/b)/c = (a/b)/(c/1) = (a/b)*(1/c) = a/(b c)

and

a/(b/c) = (a/1)/(b/c) = (a/1)*(c/b) = (a c)/b

thanks sanju09 aka Hanuman! Hence in complex fractions like these, you'll always have one line that's bigger than another.... that should make the reciprocal quite clear

iceman2010 wrote:thanks sanju09 aka Hanuman! Hence in complex fractions like these, you'll always have one line that's bigger than another.... that should make the reciprocal quite clear

Even if it's not bigger, it won't be leading to any wistfulness in either case, like a/b/c or something.