Kate divides 1/2 gallon of water equally among 5 plants.

Question

How much water does each plant get?

Enter your answer as a fraction in simplest form by filling in the boxes.

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gal

Answer 1

To divide \( \frac{1}{2} \) gallon of water equally among 5 plants, we need to perform the division of \( \frac{1}{2} \) by 5.

This can be expressed as: \[ \frac{1}{2} \div 5 \]

Dividing by a number is the same as multiplying by its reciprocal. The reciprocal of 5 is \( \frac{1}{5} \). Therefore: \[ \frac{1}{2} \div 5 = \frac{1}{2} \times \frac{1}{5} \]

Now, multiply the fractions: \[ \frac{1 \times 1}{2 \times 5} = \frac{1}{10} \]

Thus, each plant receives: \[ \frac{1}{10} \text{ gallon of water.} \]

So the answer is: \[ \frac{1}{10} \text{ gal.} \]