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Question

Ezra needed to use 3 pounds 14 ounces of clay to make a bowl and twice as much to make a vase. If he had a 12 pound bag of clay available, did he have enough clay to make both items?

How much clay did Ezra need to make his items?

Solve on paper. Then, check your work on Zearn. Use the largest units possible.

1 lb = 16 oz

Ezra needed to use a total of  lbs  oz of clay for his items.

Answer 1

Hello Jerold,

The main thing in this problem is to make sure you are using the largest units possible, which in this case means your answer should be in pounds.

To find out how much clay is required for the vase, you have to double the original amount of clay in the problem, which was 3 pounds and 14 oz.

2 x ( 3 pounds 14 ounces ) = 6 pounds 28 ounces

To find the amount of clay required for both the bowl and the vase, add the two amounts together.

BOWL = 3 pounds 14 ounces

VASE = 6 pounds 28 ounces

(BOWL + VASE) = 9 pounds 42 ounces

The only step left is to figure out how many pounds 42 ounces is. You need to see how many times 16 can fit evenly into 42.

16 + 16 = 32 (2 pounds)

16 + 16 + 16 = 48 (3 pounds)

As you can see, if you try to fit 16 into 42 three times, it requires 48 ounces, but the bowl and vase only add up to 42 ounces. With this in mind the 42 ounces will be 2 pounds (32 ounces), with 10 ounces left over.

42 ounces = 2 pounds 10 ounces

To simplify the problem once again,

(BOWL + VASE) = 9 pounds 42 ounces

(BOWL + VASE) = 9 pounds + 2 pounds 10 ounces

(BOWL + VASE) = 11 pounds, 10 ounces

So in the problem, if the student was provided a 12 pound bag of clay this would be enough to make both the bowl and the vase.

Hope this helps, and if you have any other questions feel free to reach out to me!

Best,

Liang