Three fraction expressions

Question

Julia collects colored beads for craft projects. Of Julia's beads, 4/9 are silver, 1/5 are gold, and 1/4 are blue. The rest of the beads are red. Which expression gives the closest extimates of the fraction of red beads Julia has?

 

The answer choices are:

 

a.  1-1/2-1/2-1/2

b.  1-2/3-1/3-1/3

c.  1-1/4-1/4-1/4

d.  1-2/5-1/5-1/5

 

Answer 1

Although this is a estimation problem, we would need to get a good idea of the remaining red beads. We first need to establish equivalent fractions or change to percents. 4/9=44.4%, 1/5=20% and 1/4=25% for a total of 89.4%. The remaining 10.6% is the percent of red beads(100 - 89.4=10.6). Roughly 1/10. From deductive reasoning, we can deduce that a and b are incorrect because they take away more than the original amount allows. Choice c leaves you with 25% and d leaves you with 20%.