text: what are the proper steps to figuring out what the difference is between 8 1/4 - 5 1/2? i need to help my daughter figure out easy steps on how to subtract mixed numbers. ok...well here is a detailed explaination  first you need to conver 8 1/4 to an improper fraction, in general this means: a b/c = (a*c +b)/c  in your case  8 1/4 = (8*4 +1)/4 = (32+1)/4 = 33/4  then you need to do the same for the second fraction 5 1/2 = (5*2 +1)/2 = (10+1)/2 = 11/2  now you have the following 33/4 -11/2  well to add this you need to have common denominators (bottoms of the fractions), to do this you need to find the smallest number that both 4 and 2 go into...in this case both of these numbers go into 4...(4*1=4 and 2*2=4)  now you need to get that second fraction to have a denominator of 4...to do this you notice that 2*2 is 4 so we need to multiply that second fraction by 2/2 (so the top and bottom of the fraction is multiplied by 2.  you would wonder why the top and bottom...the reason is because 2/2 =1  and we can multiply a number by  1 and it doesnt chage its value...we are just making 1 look funny so we can get the same denomintors  now ...  11/2 * 2/2 = (11*2)/ (2*2) = 22/4 ( we recall we multiply the two top numbers and the two bottom numbers respectively)  now do your subtraction now that we have common denomintaors  33/4-22/4 = (33-22)/4 (here we only subtract the numerator (top))  so 11/4 is our answer  i hope this helps.... matttlocke