Question

A chili recipe calls for 2 1/4 pounds of ground beef. Tom has enough ground beef for 5/8 of the recipe. How much ground beef does he have?

Answer 1

To find out how much ground beef Tom has, we first need to calculate how much 5/8 of the chili recipe is.

The chili recipe calls for 2 1/4 pounds of ground beef. We can convert this mixed number into an improper fraction:

\[
2 \frac{1}{4} = \frac{2 \times 4 + 1}{4} = \frac{8 + 1}{4} = \frac{9}{4} \text{ pounds}
\]

Now, we need to find 5/8 of \(\frac{9}{4}\) pounds:

\[
\text{Amount of ground beef} = \frac{5}{8} \times \frac{9}{4}
\]

To multiply the fractions, we multiply the numerators together and the denominators together:

\[
\frac{5 \times 9}{8 \times 4} = \frac{45}{32} \text{ pounds}
\]

Now we can convert \(\frac{45}{32}\) into a mixed number for better understanding:

\[
45 \div 32 = 1 \quad \text{(since } 32 \text{ fits into } 45 \text{ once)}
\]
The remainder is \(45 - 32 = 13\), so:

\[
\frac{45}{32} = 1 \frac{13}{32}
\]

Thus, Tom has \(\frac{45}{32}\) pounds of ground beef, or in mixed number form, \(1 \frac{13}{32}\) pounds.