Solution - Reducing fractions to their lowest terms

Step  1  :

            1
 Simplify   —
            2

Equation at the end of step  1  :

        1
  87 -  —
        2

Step  2  :

Rewriting the whole as an Equivalent Fraction :

 2.1   Subtracting a fraction from a whole

Rewrite the whole as a fraction using  2  as the denominator :

           87     87 • 2
     87 =  ——  =  ——————
           1        2   

Equivalent fraction : The fraction thus generated looks different but has the same value as the whole

Common denominator : The equivalent fraction and the other fraction involved in the calculation share the same denominator

Adding fractions that have a common denominator :

 2.2       Adding up the two equivalent fractions
Add the two equivalent fractions which now have a common denominator

Combine the numerators together, put the sum or difference over the common denominator then reduce to lowest terms if possible:

 87 • 2 - (1)     173
 ————————————  =  ———
      2            2 

Final result :

  173            
  ——— = 86.50000 
   2