How many 3/8 foot pieces of wood can you cut from a board that is 1 7/8 feet long?

Question

14732 views around the world

You can reuse this answer
Creative Commons License

Answer 1 · 2018-03-20T02:01:22

5 pieces.

To find the number of pieces divide 1 7/8 by 3/8

# 1 7/8 /3/8 #

Change 1 7/8 to an improper fraction

# 1 7/8 = 15/8 # substitute this value into the equation

#(15/8)/(3/8)# l

to solve this complex fraction remove the bottom fraction by multiplying both the top and bottom fractions by the inverse of the bottom fraction.

# ( 15/8 xx 8/3)/ ( 3/8 xx 8/3)#

Multiplying by the inverse results in a product of 1 so the result is

# ( 15/8 xx 8/3)/1# dividing by 1 gives just the top fraction.

# 15/8 xx 8/3 = ( 5 xx 3 xx 8)/( 3 xx 8 )#

Dividing out common factors leaves

# 5 xx (3/3) xx (8/8) = 5 #