Math Fractions!!

Question

Jackson ordered 4 submarine sandwiches for a lunch party. Each sandwich was cut into thirds. At the party, 8 people each ate ¹/₃ of a sandwich. How much of the sandwiches were left? 

Answer 1

Hi Celia! I'd be happy to answer this.

Let's take a look at the statements made in this problem. Jackson has 4 sandwiches, and each are cut in thirds. This means that 1 sandwich = 3 thirds or 3/3. Since we have 4 sandwiches, we have 12/3 in total because 3/3 x 4 people = 12/3

At the party, 8 people each ate 1/3. This means that in total, 8/3 of sandwiches have been eaten since 1/3 x 8 people = 8/3.

Now, we know the total amount of sandwich we had in the first place, 12/3, and the amount of sandwich that has been eaten, 8/3.

Therefore, we subtract. 12/3 - 8/3 = 4/3.

Our answer is that there are 4/3 sandwiches left or 1 1/3 sandwiches left. Hope this helped!

Answer 2

Hi Celia,

to answer this question, please draw 4 rectangles and divide them into thirds - each rectangle can be thought of as a sub sandwich. When you divide them into thirds you are going to cut the subs (rectangles) into 3 equal parts. Count how many parts are there in all?Each part is 1/3 of a sub. If 8 people each ate 1/3 parts, how many do you have left? You will have 4 parts leftover and remember each is a third of the sub.

so you have 4* 1/3 leftover

4/3 = 1 1/3 as a mixed fraction.