How do you subtract 5 2/9 from 1 2/3 and can you break it down step by step .Thank you

Hi!

You need to firstly turn the whole thing into fractions rather than mixed numbers

so turn you 5 into (5x9)/9 and same for the 1 into 1/3rds

Then you do the same subtraction as you would normally, find the shared denominator and convert them into it, then subtract your nominators.

Then once you have the answer you can take out whole numbers to turn it into t amixed number, and simplify

Let me know how you get on!

I like capuchin's explanation but since there aren't many other questions to look at right now I will do a quick example problem with different numbers. :)

3 4/9 - 1 1/2
first convert to fractions instead of mixed numbers
3 4/9 = (3*9 + 4)/9 = 31/9
1 1/2 = (1*2 + 1)/2 = 3/2
so now our problem is
31/9 - 3/2
find a common denominator. It will be the least common multiple of 9 and 2
the least common multiple is 18
so 31/9 = 62/18 and 3/2=27/18
now we have
62/18 - 27/18
since we have the same denominator in both fractions we can simply subtract the numerators and get (62-27)/18=35/18
now we should turn it into a mixed number by performing the long division
35/18=1 17/18
now we need to simplify the fractional part... but 17 and 18 have no common divisors so it is already in it's simplest form. So our final answer is:
1 17/18

hope this example helps if you still had any questions. If any remain please ask!