Question

Elizabeth has 1 7/10 as many plants as Rosalie has in her garden. If Elizabeth has 51 plants, how many plants does Rosalie have?

Is the answer 1/30?

Answer 1

1/30 (a fraction of a plant) makes no sense whatever. You need to get into the habit of taking a look at your answer and asking, "Does that make any sense?"

e = (1 7/10)*r
51 = 17/10 * r
r = 10/17 * 51 = 30

Rosalie has 30 plants

Answer 2

e=17/10*r

bring (r)51=(17/10) loose (e)

do (r) carry bk over to evaluate at invert this time (10th/17)*51
0.58*51=29.58 or 30