Divide. Write your answer as a fraction or mixed number in simplest form.

- 5/2 divided (- 15/17)

1 answer

To divide \(-\frac{5}{2}\) by \(-\frac{15}{17}\), you can multiply by the reciprocal of the divisor:

\[ -\frac{5}{2} \div -\frac{15}{17} = -\frac{5}{2} \times -\frac{17}{15} \]

The negatives cancel out:

\[ \frac{5}{2} \times \frac{17}{15} \]

Now, multiply the numerators and the denominators:

\[ \frac{5 \times 17}{2 \times 15} = \frac{85}{30} \]

Next, we simplify \(\frac{85}{30}\). The greatest common divisor (GCD) of 85 and 30 is 5. So, we divide both the numerator and the denominator by 5:

\[ \frac{85 \div 5}{30 \div 5} = \frac{17}{6} \]

Therefore, the final answer in simplest form is:

\[ \frac{17}{6} \]

Since \(\frac{17}{6}\) is an improper fraction, you can also express it as a mixed number:

\[ 2 \frac{5}{6} \]

Thus, the answer is:

\[ \frac{17}{6} \quad \text{or} \quad 2 \frac{5}{6} \]