Question

A set of books sits on a shelf at a store. This line plot shows the thickness of each book. Juan buys one of the thickest books on the shelf. Min buys the third thinnest book on the shelf.

How much thicker is Juan’s book than Min’s book?

Enter your answer in the box as a mixed number in simplest form.


in.
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Line plot titled Books. The number line is labeled Thickness in inches and goes from 1 and 1 half to 4 by halves. There is 1 mark above 1 and 1 half, 1 mark above 2, 1 mark above 2 and 1 half, 2 marks above 3 and 1 half, and 4 marks above 4.

Answer 1

To determine how much thicker Juan's book is than Min's book, we first need to identify the thickness of each book as represented in the line plot.

From the description of the line plot:
- The thickness values and their corresponding quantities are:
- \(1.5\) inches: \(1\) book
- \(2\) inches: \(1\) book
- \(2.5\) inches: \(1\) book
- \(3.5\) inches: \(2\) books
- \(4\) inches: \(4\) books

Now, let's identify which books Juan and Min bought.

- **Juan buys one of the thickest books**: The thickest book available on the shelf is \(4\) inches, so Juan's book is \(4\) inches thick.

- **Min buys the third thinnest book**: To find the third thinnest book, we list the thicknesses in ascending order:
- \(1.5\)
- \(2\)
- \(2.5\)
- \(3.5\)
- \(4\)

The thicknesses in order are:
1. \(1.5\) inches (1st thinnest)
2. \(2\) inches (2nd thinnest)
3. \(2.5\) inches (3rd thinnest)

So, Min's book is \(2.5\) inches thick.

Now we calculate the difference in thickness between Juan's book and Min's book:
\[
4 \text{ inches} - 2.5 \text{ inches} = 1.5 \text{ inches}
\]

Next, we convert \(1.5\) inches into a mixed number:
\[
1.5 = 1 \frac{1}{2}
\]

Thus, the final answer is:
\[
\boxed{1 \frac{1}{2}} \text{ inches}
\]