TECH MATH FRACTION WORD PROBLEM HELP!

Question

A family budgets their monthly income as follows: 1/3 food, 1/4 rent, 1/10 clothing, 1/5 savings, and the remainder for miscellaneous expenses. What fractional part is left for miscellaneous expenses? Hint. Fractional whole = 1

the book itself did a poor job explaining what im supposed to do.

Answer 1

The question should state "A family budgets their monthly expenses" not "income" but it doesn't really matter---

Add up the fractions by finding a common denominator. Lets make the denominators 300:

1/3 is 100/300

1/4 is 75/300

1/5 is 60/300

1/10 is 30/300

100/300 + 75/300 + 60/300 + 30/300 =

(100 + 75 + 60 + 30)/300 =

265/300

What's left over?

The whole budget is equal to 1 or 300/300

300/300 - 265/300 =

(300-265)/300 =

35/300

Now simplify; both 35 and 300 are divisible by 5:

(35/5=7 and 300/5=60)

So 35/300 = 7/60

So, the remainder is 7/60ths of the family's entire budget