Wooden Birdhouse
fractions for 7th grade math homework?
We did a huge unit on fractions in the 6th grade but I haven't done them in a year and have just been given this homework assignment. Even though it's way easy I can not remember for the life of me how to do it! Here is the problem:
Mrs. Smith is making wooden benches for her birdhouse from a strip of thin board. She cuts 1/12 of the strip for another project. Benches take 1/8 of a strip.
a.) Suppose Mrs. Smith uses the remainder of the strip for benches. How many benches can she make?
b.) Draw diagrams to confirm your answer.
I am pretty sure you find 1/8 of 9/12 so you multiply 1/8 by 9/12 but I got 9/96 when I multiplied Answers immediately please! Thank you!
a.) You have to convert the fractions so that they have a common denominator. The least common denominator that both 8 and 12 go into is 24, so:
1/12 = 2/24
1/8 = 3/24
So she took away 2/24 of the strip of wood. This means that there are 22/24 of the strip left. Divide 22/24 by 3/24, as that is the amount of wood it takes to make a bench:
(22/24) / (3/24) (now you can simplify the 22/24)
(11/12) / (3/24) (change the division sign into multiplication and multiply by one of the fraction's reciprocals)
11/12 * 24/3 (multiply the numerator by the numerator and the denominator by the denominator)
264/36 (simplify)
66/9 (further simplify)
22/3
So she can make 22/3 benches, or 7 and 1/3 benches.
b.) Sorry, you'll have to do the diagram yourself.
How To Make A Wooden Bird House Pt. 1
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