help maths driving son mad

[bkgirl]

Son in yr 11 has this sum which is driving him nuts. I am useless, can anyone help?
4 xsquared y - 6xysquared over 8xy

[TheFirstOfHerName]

You can simplify it to 0.5x - 0.75y

[TheFirstOfHerName]

But it is an expression not a sum, so it depends on what the question is.

[Littlemissjt]

Hi, he needs to try and simplify this fraction by looking for things which he can cancel down.

First you can cancel an x in every term leaving you 4xy - 6y squared over 8y.

Similarly you can then cancel the y'sin each term. This leaves 4x - 6y over 8.

Finally the numbers can all be divided by 2. Final answer 2x - 3y over 4.

These steps can be done in any order to get to final answer. Hope this helps

[TheFirstOfHerName]

Littlemissjt gave a much better explanation than I did. Good thing I'm not a teacher.

[bkgirl]

Sorry I can't write it on the screen as a sum
4xy-6xy

8xy


The top x on the left should be squared and the top y on the right should be squared

[Littlemissjt]

Thanks thefirstofhername

[TheFirstOfHerName]

I'm reasonably good at algebra, just not very good at explaining it to other people.

[bkgirl]

Thank you for helping :)

[Littlemissjt]

Anytime!