Simplify -270y^2/189x^3
Not too sure how to go about simplifying this. I googled it, and google showed me the steps but no explanation.
Step 1: Cancel terms that are in both numerator and denominator
-270y^2/189 * x^3
Reduced: -10y^2/7 * x^3
Step 2: combine multiplied terms into a single fraction
-10y^2/7 * x^3
-10y^2 * x^3 / 7
Solution: -10y^2 * x^3 / 7
Why did 7x^3 get separated into 7 and x^3?
Why did the equation get multiplied or looks multiplied by x^3?
Why do we combine x^3 with 10y^2 in the numerator? I.E. 10y^2*x^3 / 7?
Can someone go over simplifying this in a more detailed manner?
TIA
It is often useful to use parentheses in order to avoid ambiguity. We have $$ (-270y^2) / (189x^3) = \frac{-270y^2}{189x^3} = \frac{-10y^2}{7x^3} $$ since $$ 270 = 2 \times 3^3 \times 5 \qquad \text{and} \qquad 189 = 3^3 \times 7. $$