Before she went to the hairdresser, Maria's hair was 6 3/4 inches long. When she left the salon, it was 4 2/5 inches long. How much of her hair did Maria cut off?
Subtract. We are looking for the difference between the length of Maria's hair before and after. Answer: 2 7/20 inches
A pot of chili holds 10 2/3 cups. Each portion is 2/3 cup. How many portions of chili does the big pot hold?
Divide You are taking a total amount (10 2/3) and seeing how many 2/3 cups portions go into making up the 10 2/3. Answer: 16
Ms. Campbell had 18 lbs of oranges. She gave away 5/6 of the oranges. How much did she keep for her family?
Multiply. She gave away 5/6 of the oranges. We're asking, "What is 5/6 OF 18 lbs = 15 lbs
So she kept 3 lbs of oranges
It took Brad 3/5 of an hour to drive from his house to Athens, Georgia. Brad drove another 3/4 of an hour to Auburn, Georgia. How long did Brad drive in all?
"In all" is a big clue to add!
3/5 + 3/4 = 27/20 or 1 7/20 Then you need to convert the mixed number to hours and minutes
So: 1 hour and then you need
7/20 x 60 minutes = 21 minutes. Answer is
1 hour and 21 minute
Mary needs 5/7 cup of sugar to bake a cake. How much will she need to bake 8 cakes?
Multiply/Add. We could add 5/7 eight times, but anytime we can repeatedly add, we can also multiply. Answer: 5 5/7
Bev wants to make 2 1/2 recipes of play clay for her daughter's birthday party. If each recipe calls for 3 2/3 teaspoons of salt, how much salt will she need?
Multiply! EACH recipe needs 3 2/3 teaspoons salt, and you are making 2 1/2 recipes Answer: 9 1/6