A swimming pool is filled with water to a depth of 4 1/2 feet. If the pool has a maximum depth of 8 feet, how much deeper does the pool need to be filled?

Answer 1

To find out how much deeper the pool needs to be filled, we need to subtract the current depth of the water in the pool from the maximum depth.

Maximum depth - Current depth = Amount of additional depth needed

The maximum depth of the pool is 8 feet, and the current depth of the water is 4 1/2 feet.
To subtract the fractions, we need to find a common denominator between the two fractions. The common denominator is 2, which is the LCM of the denominators 2 and 1.

So, 4 1/2 feet is equal to (4 * 2)/(2 * 2) + 1/2 = 8/2 + 1/2 = 9/2 feet.

Now, we can subtract the current depth of the water from the maximum depth:

8 feet - 9/2 feet = (8 * 2)/(2 * 2) - 9/2 = 16/2 - 9/2 = 7/2

The pool needs to be filled 7/2 feet deeper.