8.5 in its simplest form

If you want to convert 8.5 into a fraction, you can do it like this:
8 equals to 8/1 and 0.5 equals to 5/10 which simplifies to 1/2.
The result is 8 1/2.

If you want to make it a pure fraction, you have to make one additional step:
because you want to add 8/1 and 1/2, you have to get the same denominators, so 8/1 changes to 16/2. 
Now, you can add 16/2 and 1/2. The result is 17/2. 

Add up all the sides