Work out 2 1/7 + 1 1/4.

It is important to notice that this is the addition of two mixed fractions which firstly needs to be changed into improper fractions. Take 2 1/7 - first multiply the denominator by the whole number to give 14 and now add the numerator to this number to get 15 - the fraction in improper form is 15/7. Do the same process with 1 1/4 - so 4 x 1 = 4 and now 4 + 1 = 5 - the new fraction is 5/4. We now have to add the two improper fractions together. To do this we need the denominator to be the same in both fractions. We find the lowest common multiple of 4 and 7 which is simply 28. For 15/7 we multiply the top and bottom of the fraction by 4 to give 60/28 and for 5/4 we multiply the top and bottom of the fraction by 7 to give 35/28 Finally we can add the two fractions together by keeping the denominator as 28 and simply adding the two numerators together to give 95/28. This number cannot be simplified further.

GH

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