Question

Aubrey brought 2 1/2 pans of lasagna to a family dinner. During the meal, Aubrey and her family ate 75% of the lasagna. At the end of the dinner, Aubrey's brother took home 1/2 of a pan of lasagna. How much lasagna is left now?

The amount of lasagna left now is
.

Answer 1

To find out how much lasagna is left now, we can follow these steps:

1. **Convert the pans of lasagna to an improper fraction**:
Aubrey brought 2 1/2 pans of lasagna.
\[
2 \frac{1}{2} = \frac{5}{2} \text{ pans}
\]

2. **Calculate how much lasagna was eaten**:
Aubrey and her family ate 75% of the lasagna. To find 75% of \(\frac{5}{2}\) pans, we can multiply:
\[
\text{Amount eaten} = 0.75 \times \frac{5}{2} = \frac{3}{4} \times \frac{5}{2} = \frac{15}{8} \text{ pans}
\]

3. **Determine the amount of lasagna left after the meal**:
Subtract the amount eaten from the total amount:
\[
\text{Amount left after meal} = \frac{5}{2} - \frac{15}{8}
\]
First, convert \(\frac{5}{2}\) to a fraction with a denominator of 8:
\[
\frac{5}{2} = \frac{20}{8}
\]
Now subtract:
\[
\frac{20}{8} - \frac{15}{8} = \frac{5}{8} \text{ pans}
\]

4. **Account for the lasagna taken home by Aubrey's brother**:
Aubrey's brother took home \(\frac{1}{2}\) a pan of lasagna. We need to subtract that from what is left:
\[
\text{Amount left now} = \frac{5}{8} - \frac{1}{2}
\]
Convert \(\frac{1}{2}\) to a fraction with a denominator of 8:
\[
\frac{1}{2} = \frac{4}{8}
\]
Now subtract:
\[
\frac{5}{8} - \frac{4}{8} = \frac{1}{8} \text{ pans}
\]

Therefore, the amount of lasagna left now is \(\frac{1}{8}\) of a pan.