Question

Simplify the expression. $$6\left(-\frac{1}{6} x\right)$$

Short answer

The simplified expression of \(6\left(-\frac{1}{6} x\right)\) is \(-x\).

Step-by-step solution

Identify the numbers to multiply

In the expression \(6\left(-\frac{1}{6} x\right)\), we have a number \(6\) and a fraction \(-\frac{1}{6}\). The operation to be performed here is multiplication. The multiplication operation needs to be done on \(6\) and \(-\frac{1}{6}\). After that we will still keep the variable \(x\) in the expression.

Perform the multiplication

Multiply \(6\) by \(-\frac{1}{6}\). Multiplying a whole number by a fraction involves multiplying the whole number by the numerator of the fraction, and dividing it by the denominator of the fraction. In this case, \(6\) multiplied by \(-1\) (which is the numerator of the fraction) is \(-6\). Then we divide \(-6\) by \(6\) (the denominator of the fraction) and we get \(-1\).

Write the final simplified expression

Since the multiplication resulted in \(-1\), the final simplified expression is \(-1x\) or simply \(-x\).