pre algebra questions

Question

 a student walks 1/4 mile from her home to the store on her way to a friends house. If the store is 1/3 of the way to her friends house, how far is her friends house from her home?

 

Answer 1

Hi Toyin, 

Method One:

We can use the following diagram:

(home)         (store)                    (friend's house)

⇓                 ⇓                                   ⇓

|__________|__________|__________|

(1/4)              (1/4)             (1/4)

Since we know that (1/4) mile is the distance for three parts of the total distance between her friend's house and her home, we can add (1/4)+(1/4)+(1/4)=(3/4)

Method Two:

Let x = the total distance between her friend's house and her home

Since 1/4 is 1/3 of the total distance between her friend's house and her home, we can create the equation:

(1/4)=(1/3)(x) Solve for x.

(1/4)=(x/3) Multiply numerators.

(3/4)=(4x/4) Simplify.

(3/4)=x

∴The distance between her friend's house and her home is 3/4 mile.

Best, 

Star