Daisy has 5 1/2 pounds of choclate she uses 4/5 to make brownies. how much does she use to make brownies

Question

I need to find out how much choclate she used

Answer 1

Hi Cassandria! The best way to do this fractional subtraction problem is to change the 5 1/2 pounds of chocolate into an improper fraction by multiplying the denominator of 2 times 5 and add the numerator 1 so that there are 11/2. Now, in order to subtract 4/5 from 11/2, one needs to find the lowest common denominator between the two (2 and 5). By multiplying them (since they are both prime), one gets '10ths'. The fractions are converted to 55/10 by multiplying 11/2 by 5 (the numerator and denominator) and 4/5 becomes 8/10.

55/10 - 8/10 = 47/10 or converted back to a mixed number is 4 7/10 pounds of chocolate remaining.

I hope this helps your understanding.

Best regards,

Don M.