To write the fraction in its simplest form, we begin by trying to break down the numerator and denominator into factors.
- 7ab/a=- 7* a* b/aFirst, see that the denominator cannot be factored.
However, 7ab in the numerator can be broken into the factors 7, a, and b. Since a is the common value between the numerator and the denominator, we can reduce the fraction by this value.
- 7ab/a ⇒ - 7b/1
Note that a number divided by 1 is the number itself, so we can write our final expression.
- 7b/1 ⇒ - 7b
