1) Adding fractions involves making the denominators the same by finding a common denominator, then simply adding the numerators.
2) Subtracting fractions also involves making the denominators the same, then subtracting the numerators.
3) When the denominators are different, the least common multiple (LCM) of the denominators is used to convert the fractions to equivalent fractions with a common denominator to allow addition or subtraction of the numerators.