A piece of string is 3 yards long. How many 1 1/4-yard long pieces can Julie cut from the string?

A. 1
B. 2
C. 3
D. 4

6 answers

suppose I asked you how many pieces of 3 ft each you could cut from a 15-foot string. How would you do it? Divide the total length by the length of each piece, right? Same here. Don't be flummoxed by the fractions -- they're just numbers like any others.

3/(1 1/4) = 3/(5/4) = 4 * 4/5 = 16/5 = 5 1/3

That is, 5 1/3 pieces can be cut

Note that this does not mean that 1/3 of a yard is left over -- 1/3 of a piece is left over: That is, 1/3 * 5/4 = 5/12 yard left over.
I see that my answer is not one of the choices.

Can you see my typo?

16/5 = 3 1/5, not 5 1/3

Never think you're done just because you arrived at answer. Always check it!
Holy smoke! I just noticed another typo. The correct solution is:

3/(1 1/4) = 3/(5/4) = 3 * 4/5 = 12/5 = 2 2/5

But I'm sure you already figured it out ...
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nhijka