Question

Nico and Lorena used different methods to determine the product of three fractions.

Nico’s Method

Lorena’s Method



Whose solution is correct and why?

Nico is correct because he knew that

Nico is correct because he knew that

Lorena is correct because she knew that

Lorena is correct because she knew that

Answer 1

Nico is correct because he knew that -4/5 is not equal to -4/-5.

-4/-5 is actually equal to 4/5.

Answer 2

Answer: Nico is correct because he knew that,

`-(4)/(5)=(-4)/(5)`

Explanation:

Given expression is,

`(2)((1)/(6))(-(4)/(5))`

The steps for solving this expression are as follow,

Step 1 :

`((2)/(1)))((1)/(6))((-4)/(5))` (
`a=(a)/(1)`, where a is an integer also,
`-(a)/(b)=(-a)/(b)` )

Step 2 :

`((2)(1)(-4))/((1)(6)(5))` (
`\because (a)/(b)* (c)/(d)=(ac)/(bd)` )

Step 3 :

`(-8)/(30)`

Step 5 :

`-(4)/(15)` ( By simplifying )

Thus, by the above explanation the steps in Nico's metod are correct and his answer is correct also, Lorena got wrong answer because he wrote
`-(4)/(5)=(-4)/(-5)` which is incorrect.

Hence, Nico is correct because he knew that,

`-(4)/(5)=(-4)/(5)`