Question

If our monthly income is $1,100 and your house payment is $860, what fraction of your monthly

income must go to pay your house payment?
of your monthly income goes towards your house payment.

Answer 1

`(43)/(55)`

Explanation:

To find what fraction of the monthly income must go to the house payment, we can divide the house payment by the monthly income.

`\frac{\text{house payment}}{\text{monthly income}}`

`= (860)/(1100)`

We can simplify this fraction by representing the numerator and denominator by their prime factorizations, then canceling factors that appear in both the numerator and denominator.

`= (\\ot2 \cdot \\ot2 \cdot \\ot5 \cdot 43)/(\\ot2 \cdot \\ot2 \cdot \\ot5\cdot 5\cdot11)`

`\boxed{= (43)/(55)}`