Question

At the Hamilton Zoo, 1/3 of the animals are primates. Of the primates, 1/2 are monkeys. What fraction of the animals at the Hamilton Zoo are monkeys?

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

of the animals

Answer 1

Let's denote the total number of animals at the Hamilton Zoo as \( A \).

According to the problem, \( \frac{1}{3} \) of the animals are primates. Therefore, the number of primates is:

\[
\text{Number of primates} = \frac{1}{3}A
\]

Of the primates, \( \frac{1}{2} \) are monkeys. Thus, the number of monkeys is:

\[
\text{Number of monkeys} = \frac{1}{2} \times \text{Number of primates} = \frac{1}{2} \times \frac{1}{3}A = \frac{1}{6}A
\]

Now, to find the fraction of the total number of animals that are monkeys, we divide the number of monkeys by the total number of animals:

\[
\text{Fraction of animals that are monkeys} = \frac{\text{Number of monkeys}}{A} = \frac{\frac{1}{6}A}{A} = \frac{1}{6}
\]

Thus, the fraction of the animals at the Hamilton Zoo that are monkeys is:

\[
\boxed{\frac{1}{6}}
\]