Halloween POW

Question

Lucy's mom bought 12 yards of black fabric. Making a shirt, her mother used 1/3 of the fabric. Then, making the pants, she used 2/3 of the remaining fabric. How many FEET of fabric does she have left

Answer 1

She started out with 12 yards.  Since she used 1/3 of the fabric making shirt,

 

12 * (1/3) = 4

 

She used 4 yards of the fabric making a shirt.

 

 

What is left of the fabric is then 

 

(12 yards - 4 yards) = 8 yards.   She uses 2/3 of this amount to make pants.

 

8 * (2/3) = 16 / 3

 

 

She used 16/3 yards, or 5 1/3 yards of fabric.

 

 

What is now left of the fabric is

 

8 - (16 / 3)

 

 

Using the LCD to subtract fractions

 

(24 - 16) / 3 =

 

8 / 3

 

 

This is how much she has left of the fabric in yards.  We need to convert this to feet.  Use the conversion factor.

 

3 feet = 1 yard

 

 

Set a proportion using this conversion factor.

 

 

3 / feet = 1 / (8 / 3)

 

3 / feet = 1 / (8 / 3)

 

9 / feet = 1 / (8 / 3)

 

 

feet = 9 * (8 / 3)

 

feet = 3 * 8

 

feet = 24

 

 

She has 24 feet of fabric left.

Answer 2

well her mom used 4 yards of the black fabric since 1/3 * 12 = 4

 

 

and then she used 2/3 of the remaining fabric which is 2/3 * 8  = 5 1/ 3

 

 

so amount she has left = 12 - 4 - 16/ 3

 

                                 =  8 - 16 / 3

 

                                 = 8 / 3 yards or 2 2/3 yards