How to Subtract Fractions in 3 Easy Steps — Mashup Math - Free Printable

Problem:

The task is to solve the subtraction of two fractions:
\[
\frac{1}{2} - \frac{3}{7}
\]

Solution Explanation:

#### Step 1: Understand the problem
We need to subtract two fractions with different denominators:
\[
\frac{1}{2} - \frac{3}{7}
\]
To perform this subtraction, the fractions must have a common denominator.

#### Step 2: Find a common denominator
The denominators of the fractions are 2 and 7. To find a common denominator, we can multiply the two denominators together:
\[
2 \times 7 = 14
\]
So, the common denominator will be 14.

#### Step 3: Rewrite each fraction with the common denominator
To rewrite each fraction with the denominator 14, we need to multiply both the numerator and the denominator of each fraction by the necessary factor.

- For \(\frac{1}{2}\):
Multiply the numerator and the denominator by 7 (since \(2 \times 7 = 14\)):
\[
\frac{1}{2} = \frac{1 \times 7}{2 \times 7} = \frac{7}{14}
\]

- For \(\frac{3}{7}\):
Multiply the numerator and the denominator by 2 (since \(7 \times 2 = 14\)):
\[
\frac{3}{7} = \frac{3 \times 2}{7 \times 2} = \frac{6}{14}
\]

#### Step 4: Subtract the fractions
Now that both fractions have the same denominator, we can subtract them directly:
\[
\frac{7}{14} - \frac{6}{14} = \frac{7 - 6}{14} = \frac{1}{14}
\]

#### Final Answer:
The result of the subtraction is:
\[
\boxed{\frac{1}{14}}
\]