✍🏻 5th Grade Math: Add Unlike Fractions

Have you ever tried to add fractions that look different, like 1/2 and 1/3? These are called unlike fractions because their bottom numbers, the denominators, are not the same. To add them, we need to make them look alike! This means finding a common denominator, which is a number that both original denominators can divide into evenly. A great way to find this is to list multiples of each denominator until you find a match. Once you have a common denominator, you'll need to change the top numbers, the numerators, of each fraction to match the change you made to the denominator. Remember, whatever you do to the bottom, you must do to the top! After that, adding the numerators becomes super simple, and you keep the common denominator. It's like giving both fractions a common language so they can be added together easily!