Question

Which is bigger -1/8 or -2/11

Answer 1

let's put both fractions using the same denominator by multiplying each top and bottom by the other's denominator.

`-\cfrac{1}{8}\cdot \cfrac{11}{11}\implies \boxed{-\cfrac{11}{88}}\hspace{15em}-\cfrac{2}{11}\cdot \cfrac{8}{8}\implies \stackrel{\textit{\LARGE \checkmark}}{\boxed{-\cfrac{16}{88}}}`

well, let's take a looksie above, on the positive side of the number line, 16/88 is larger than 11/88, however, on the negative side, the closer to "0", the larger, for that matter -1 is a much larger number than -1,000,000.

So, -11/88 is closer to 0 on the negative side, and because of that, is larger than -16/88 that is farther from 0.