Question

A factory makes sheets of metal that are 1/3 of an inch thick. If a worker at the factory makes a stack of 98 of the sheets, how many inches thick will the stack be?

Write your answer as a fraction or as a whole or mixed number

Answer 1

To find the total thickness of a stack of 98 sheets of metal, each of which is 1/3 of an inch thick, we can multiply the thickness of one sheet by the number of sheets:

\[
\text{Total thickness} = \text{Thickness of one sheet} \times \text{Number of sheets}
\]

Substituting the values:

\[
\text{Total thickness} = \frac{1}{3} \times 98
\]

To perform the multiplication, we can express 98 as a fraction:

\[
98 = \frac{98}{1}
\]

Now, we multiply the fractions:

\[
\text{Total thickness} = \frac{1 \times 98}{3 \times 1} = \frac{98}{3}
\]

Now, we can convert \(\frac{98}{3}\) into a mixed number. We divide 98 by 3:

\[
98 \div 3 = 32 \quad \text{(with a remainder of 2)}
\]

This gives us:

\[
98 = 3 \times 32 + 2
\]

Thus, as a mixed number, we have:

\[
\frac{98}{3} = 32 \frac{2}{3}
\]

Therefore, the total thickness of the stack of sheets is:

\[
\boxed{\frac{98}{3}} \quad \text{or} \quad \boxed{32 \frac{2}{3}}
\]