Parts of a pie

Question

 I made a pie.  My brother ate 1 third of it, and my sister ate 2 fifths of it.  How much less did my brother eat than my sister?  I need to  know how to solve this in long math .  Please Help.

Answer 1

Hi Jennifer,

 

Was the pie good?

 

OK so this is a problem to find the difference of fractions.

 

brother ate 1/3

 

sister ate 2/5

 

difference means subtraction

 

2/5 - 1/3     (lets get a common denominator  and that will be 3*5 or 15

 

so  our fractions become

 

6/15 - 5/15  = 1/15

 

so your brother ate 1/15 less than your sister

 

Hope this helps

 

 

Answer 2

You brother ate 1/3.  Your sister ate 2/5.

 

To find how much less your brother ate, subtract his share from your sister's share:

 

2/5 - 1/3.

 

To solve that, you need to change the fractions so they have a common denominator.

 

The easiest way to find a common denominator is to multiply the two denominators together, which gives 15.

 

So 2/5 = 6/15 and 1/3 = 5/15.

 

So 2/5 - 1/3 = 6/15 - 5/15 = 1/15