The problem
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I don't understand why 3/5 and 1/5 are being subtracted in the denominator.
Answer provided by our tutors
We need to reduce this fraction to the lowest terms.
This can be done by dividing out those factors that appear both in the numerator and in the denominator.
In our example, this is the common factor: x^(1/3).
Since x^(3/5):x^(1/3) = x^(3/5 - 1/3).