 Molly earnes £1,200 per month. From this she spends a third on rent and a quarter on travel. What fraction of her earnings remain. Firstly you need to concentrate on the important facts. Molly's earnings £1,200 per month. She spent a third of her earnings on rent. She spent a quarter of her earnings on travel. We need to find out how much is being spent on rent and travel. One third of £1,200 is the same as £1,200 divided by three, which is £400, so £400 is spent on rent. Travel is a quarter of £1,200, which is the same as £1,200 divided by four, this is £300, so £300 is spent on travel. We now need to find out the total that has been spent on rent and travel. £400 plus £300 is £700. Now you need to discover the money that's left over as a fraction of the original value. So £1,200 subtract £700 leaves us with £500. The fraction needs to be simplified by dividing the top and bottom with the greatest common factor. This is the largest number that can be directly divided into these two numbers. In this case, the greatest common factor is £100. So £500 divided by £100 is £5 and £1,200 divided by £100 is £12. Therefore, the answer is £512, which is written as £5 over £12. The second method uses only fractions. Firstly, you need to find out the fractions that are being spent. One third plus a quarter. The fractions need to have the same denominator. To do this, we need to find the greatest common factor, which is the first number that the two denominators can divide into perfectly. One third plus a quarter. In this case, that is 12. And to get 12 as a denominator on both fractions, we must multiply a third by four and a quarter by three. Now that both fractions have the same denominator, we can add the numerators with a simple addition sum. Four plus three equals seven. So the answer is £712. So one third plus one quarter is the same as £712. We now need to find out the fraction that's left over by subtracting £712 out of one whole. One whole is the same as £12 over £12, or £1212. Therefore, £12 over £12, take away £7 over £12, is equal to £5 over £12, or £512.