Fraction Word Problem

Question

In the voting for City Council Precinct 5, only 1/2 of all eligible voters cast votes. Shelley received 3/10 of the votes and Morgan received 5/8 of the votes.

1. What fraction of all eligible voters voted for Shelley?
2. What fraction of all eligible voters voted for Morgan?
3. Who received the most votes?

I can see Morgan received the most votes by creating a common denominator of 40. Shelley is 12/40 and Morgan is 25/40, which is a bigger number. To figure out 1 and 2 above, do I multiply each by 1/2 since only 1/2 of the voters cast a vote? So Shelley received 3/20 of the votes and Morgan received 5/16 of the votes.

Answer 1

Yes , you are correct!!!

3/10 * 1/2 = 3/20

5/8*1/2 = 5/16

Shelly received 3/20=15%

Morgan received 5/16 = 31.25%

Note that: (3/10 + 5/8)*1/2 =

(12/40 + 25/40) * 1/2 =

(37/40) * 1/2 =

37/80 = 46.25%

so 3.75% of the voters did not vote

for either candidate, which is 3/80