Word problem on Fractions

Question

Two pizzas are brought and each of your 4 brothers get 1/3 of a pizza. You get to share equally what is left from the 2 pizzas with your mum and dad. What fraction of the second pizza do you get?

Answer 1

If we think of 1/3 of a pizza as a (large) "slice" then the two pizzas, among them, have six such slices (three for each pizza). It's given that Each of 4 brothers gets 1/3 of a pizza, so after these 4 brothers have taken theirs, there are 2 (out of the original 6) such "slices" left over.

 

This means 2/3 of ONE pizza is what's left.

 

This is what must be split three ways (for you and for each of your parents) equally, so each of the three of you gets 1/3 of that "2/3 of a pizza"

 

Since 1/3 of 2/3 is 2/9, you get to eat **2/9 of a pizza** (specifically, 2/9 of "the second pizza")

 

Check on your calculator (2/9)+(2/9)+(2/9) for you and your parents, plus 4*(1/3) for your four brothers, added together gives:

 

(2/9)+(2/9)+(2/9) + 4*(1/3)

 

which your calculator confirms is equal to 2 (two pizzas). You can confirm that by using the properties of fraction addition as well.

 

Let me know if you have any other questions! (and if it's useful, please thumb up)