Three fifths of the cast in a musical have to sing. What fraction of the cast does not have to sing?

Want to solve the following question: "Three fifths of the cast in a musical have to sing. What fraction of the cast does not have to sing?"

The simple way to get started is to break it down into fractions:

So we know 3/5 of the cast have to sing.

That means the total would be 5/5 (because that's what the denominator is)

We want to know what's left to make up the total.

So this is the equation we'd use:

5/5 - 3/5 = ?

When you subtract fractions with the same denominator, you don't need to worry about the denominator (the 5 in this case), and you just subtract the numerator (the top part) as normal.

So it's really a question of 5 - 3, which equals 2.

So your answer is 2/5

If you have any other questions about how to use fractions and solve equations involving fractions, please feel free to ask!