Jason ran 5/7 of the distance around the school track. Sara ran 4/5 of Jason's distance. What fraction of the total distance around the track did Sara run?

Question

He was sick this week and obviously missed learning most of this so we don't even know where to begin or what to do. The workbook page is multiplying fractions but just multiplying 5/7x4/5 seemed too easy.

 

Answer 1

It does seem too easy, but that's what you do! :-)

 

Think of it this way: if the total track is a mile, and Jason runs 5/7 of it,  he has run 5/7 of a mile.

 

Then Sara runs 4/5 OF 5/7, with "of" meaning "times," so she runs 4/5 x 5/7, which gives you 20/35,

 

which simplifies to 4/7.

 

You can also think of Sara's distance as 80 percent of Jason's. If she runs "80 percent of the sevenths that Jason ran," that means she ran 4 out of his 5 sevenths.

 

Hope this helps!

 

Matt :-)