Rhyan L. answered • 08/07/21
Elementary and Middle School Tutor from OSU
In math problems, when we are talking about what is remaining, we are talking about what is left over. For example, if you had 5 apples and ate 2 of those apples, you would have 3 apples leftover. But in math problems, we say remaining instead of leftover. So, there would be 3 apples remaining after you ate 2 out of the 5.
In the context of this problem, Kelly saved 3/7 of her salary and she has 4/7 leftover. We know this because 7/7 - 3/7= 4/7. Ultimately, the problem is saying that she kept 3/7 of her salary in her savings and used the other 4/7 to buy whatever she wanted. I like to imagine it as Kelly divided her salary into 7 parts. Out of those 7 parts, Kelly took 3 of those parts and put them in the bank. 7-3= 4, which leaves 4 more parts. Those 4 parts she used to buy what she wanted. When in doubt, think of fractions as simple parts because that's what they are.
I hope that helps!
