5th grade math question (5 packages and 12 people)

Question

Am I reading too much into this? I was helping a kid with this earlier today and wondering if I'm overthinking it. 5 packages. 12 people. How much does each person get? Just 5/12 (5 twelfths) of a package each as the answer? Or should the kid be dividing 5 ÷ 12 to be more specific?

If this math is too juvenile for this web site, please direct me to one that can help.

Answer 1

5/12 of a package sounds correct to me as well! If you were to divide, you could get a decimal answer, but it would be equivalent to the 5/12 fraction answer.

Answer 2

Yes, 5 / 12 is correct

Visualization can help.

If there were only 1 package it would be divided into 12 parts. Each person getting 1 of the 12 or 1/12