Question

Malcolm is filling bags with rice. He starts with a 5 1/4 pound container of rice and fills each bag with 5/8 pound of rice. How many bags of rice can Malcolm fill?

Answer 1

To determine how many bags Malcolm can fill, you will need to divide the total amount of rice by the amount of rice that each bag holds. The total amount of rice that Malcolm has is 5 1/4 pounds and each bag holds 5/8 pound of rice. You can convert both of these measurements to fractions with a denominator of 8 by multiplying the fraction 5/8 by 1/1 and the fraction 5 1/4 by 2/2. This gives you:

5/8 * 1/1 = 5/8
5 1/4 * 2/2 = 10 1/2

Now you can add these fractions: 5/8 + 10 1/2 = 10 3/8. This is the total amount of rice that Malcolm has in pounds.

To determine how many bags Malcolm can fill, you can divide the total amount of rice by the amount of rice that each bag holds. In this case, you would divide 10 3/8 by 5/8:

10 3/8 / 5/8 = (10 3/8) * (8/5)
= (10 * 8) + (3/8) * (8/5)
= 80 + 3/5
= 80 3/5

Malcolm can fill 80 3/5 bags.

Answer 2

5 1/4 ÷ 5/8
= 21/4 ÷ 5/8
= (21/4)(8/5)
= 42/5 = 8.4 bags

so he can fill 8 bags, not enough for a 9th one

Answer 3

(5/8) x = 5 1/4 = 21/4 = 42/8
so
5 x = 42
x = 8 2/5 which is indeed 8.4
however if the question means you must FILL them, it is 8

Answer 4

Malcolm can fill 8 bags of rice.