What Is 7/8 − 1/2?

Q: What is 7/8 − 1/2?

7/8 − 1/2 = 3/8 (0.375 as a decimal).

7/8 − 1/2 = 3/8, which is 0.375 as a decimal.

Result

Answer

\frac{7}{8} - \frac{1}{2} = \textcolor{#0b5c56}{\frac{3}{8}}

The difference is 3/8 in simplest form.

Decimal: \displaystyle 0.375
Percent: 37.5%

3 of 8 equal parts

Step-by-step solution

The problem

\frac{7}{8} - \frac{1}{2}

Write both fractions over 8. 8 is a multiple of 2:
2 × 4 = 8
So 8 is the least common denominator. Multiply the top and bottom of each fraction by the same number, so its value doesn't change.
\frac{1}{2} = \frac{1 \times 4}{2 \times 4} = \frac{4}{8}
= \frac{7}{8} - \textcolor{#0b5c56}{\frac{4}{8}}
Subtract the numerators. Keep the denominator 8.
= \frac{7 - 4}{8} = \textcolor{#0b5c56}{\frac{3}{8}}
Check that it can't be simplified. 3 and 8 have no common factor other than 1, so this is the simplest form.
\text{GCF}(3, 8) = 1

All the working together

\begin{aligned} &\frac{7}{8} - \frac{1}{2} \\[8pt]  &= \frac{7}{8} - \frac{1 \times 4}{2 \times 4} && \textcolor{#5b6660}{\textsf{LCD}} \\[8pt]  &= \frac{7}{8} - \frac{4}{8} \\[8pt]  &= \frac{7 - 4}{8} && \textcolor{#5b6660}{\textsf{subtract}} \\[8pt]  &= \textcolor{#0b5c56}{\frac{3}{8}}\end{aligned}

The answer in other forms

Simplest form	3/8
Decimal	0.375
Percent	37.5%
Same fractions	1/2 + 7/8, 1/2 × 7/8, 7/8 ÷ 1/2

7/8 minus other fractions

Sum	Answer
7/8 − 1/2	3/8
7/8 − 1/3	13/24
7/8 − 2/3	5/24
7/8 − 1/4	5/8
7/8 − 3/4	1/8
7/8 − 1/5	27/40
7/8 − 2/5	19/40
7/8 − 3/5	11/40
7/8 − 4/5	3/40
7/8 − 1/6	17/24
7/8 − 5/6	1/24
7/8 − 1/8	3/4
7/8 − 3/8	1/2
7/8 − 5/8	1/4