Question

What is the product in simplest form?

A
B
C
D

Answer 1

Answer: -10/39 (choice B)

Work Shown

`-(5)/(12)*(8)/(13)\\\\=-(5)/(4*3)*(4*2)/(13)\\\\=-(5)/(3)*(2)/(13) \ \ \text{The 4s cancel}\\\\=-(5*2)/(3*13)\\\\=-(10)/(39)\\\\`

Therefore,
`-(5)/(12)*(8)/(13)=-(10)/(39)\\\\`

The fraction cannot be reduced further since 10 and 39 have no common factors (other than 1).

Answer 2

`\sf -(10)/(39)`

Explanation:

`\sf - (5)/(12)\cdot (8)/(13)`

In order to this, we can multiply the numerators and multiply the denominators:

`\sf = -(5 \cdot 8)/(12 \cdot 13)`

`\sf = -(40)/(156)`

We can then divide the numerator and denominator by 4 to get the simplest form:

`\sf = -(40 / 4)/(156 / 4)`

`\sf = -(10)/(39)`

Therefore, the simplest form is
`\sf -(10)/(39)`