can someone please tell me how to begin this problem?

Question

simplify.

-98pq/210pq

Thank you in advance

Answer 1

First factorize the coefficients of the numberator and denominators into prime factors, namely:
numerator: -98 = (-1)*2*7*7
denominator: 210 = 2*3*5*7
Look for common factors between the numerator and denominator: 2 and 7
Take out the common factors from each to get:
numerator: (-1)*7
denominator: 3*5
Now the variables will be treated the same way:
numerator: pq
denominator: pq
So they cancel out each other to leave
numerator: 1
denominator: 1

So the final simplified fraction is
-7/15