There are 20 children who go to a country school. Three-fifths (5 3) of them travel to school by bus. How many children is that?

Question

fraction help step by step will be nice

Answer 1

If 3/5 of the children travel by bus, then that's only a portion of the total number of children.

 

Multiply 2/5 by 20.

 

 

(3 / 5) × 20 = 3 × 4 = 12

 

 

12 children take the bus.

 

 

 

Another approach is to set a proportion using percentages.  We want the number of students on the bus out of 20 to be equal to 3/5. 

 

 

3 / 5 = 60 / 100

 

 

x / 20 = 60 / 100

 

 

where x is the number of students who took the bus.

 

 

x = 12

 

 

12 students take bus.  We get the same result.

Answer 2

Hi Saarrah,

 

The word "of" generally means that you multiply. 

 

So 3/5 of 20 means 3/5 X 20

 

To multiply fractions, you multiply the numerators (tops) and multiply the denominators (bottoms)

 

20 is the same as 20/1

 

So 3/5 X 20/1 = (3 X 20) / (5 X 1) = 60 / 5 = 12

 

Remember that a fraction is another way of writing a division problem . . . 60 / 5 means 60 divided by 5

 

Another way to think about this problem is to realize that one fifth of 20 is 4 . . . . 4 + 4 + 4 + 4 + 4 = 20

So three of those fours add up to 12.

 

Keep practicing fractions and you'll get good at them.

 

Dan

Answer 3

Three-fifths is the same as 3/5.  To find what 3/5 of 20 (or 20/1) is we multiply the fractions.  To do this we multiply the top and then the bottom:

 

3/5 * 20/1 = (3*20)/(5*1) = 60/5  Then we divide and get 12