Basic Math Examples

$- 5 a - 7 a = \frac{3}{5}$

Step 1

Subtract $7 a$ from $- 5 a$ .

$- 12 a = \frac{3}{5}$

Step 2

Divide each term in $- 12 a = \frac{3}{5}$ by $- 12$ and simplify.

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Step 2.1

Divide each term in $- 12 a = \frac{3}{5}$ by $- 12$ .

$\frac{- 12 a}{- 12} = \frac{\frac{3}{5}}{- 12}$

Step 2.2

Simplify the left side.

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Step 2.2.1

Cancel the common factor of $- 12$ .

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Step 2.2.1.1

Cancel the common factor.

$\frac{- 12 a}{- 12} = \frac{\frac{3}{5}}{- 12}$

Step 2.2.1.2

Divide $a$ by $1$ .

$a = \frac{\frac{3}{5}}{- 12}$

Step 2.3

Simplify the right side.

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Step 2.3.1

Multiply the numerator by the reciprocal of the denominator.

$a = \frac{3}{5} \cdot \frac{1}{- 12}$

Step 2.3.2

Cancel the common factor of $3$ .

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Step 2.3.2.1

Factor $3$ out of $- 12$ .

$a = \frac{3}{5} \cdot \frac{1}{3 (- 4)}$

Step 2.3.2.2

Cancel the common factor.

$a = \frac{3}{5} \cdot \frac{1}{3 \cdot - 4}$

Step 2.3.2.3

Rewrite the expression.

$a = \frac{1}{5} \cdot \frac{1}{- 4}$

Step 2.3.3

Multiply $\frac{1}{5}$ by $\frac{1}{- 4}$ .

$a = \frac{1}{5 \cdot - 4}$

Step 2.3.4

Simplify the expression.

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Step 2.3.4.1

Multiply $5$ by $- 4$ .

$a = \frac{1}{- 20}$

Step 2.3.4.2

Move the negative in front of the fraction.

$a = - \frac{1}{20}$

Step 3

The result can be shown in multiple forms.

Exact Form:

$a = - \frac{1}{20}$

Decimal Form:

$a = - 0.05$