Janelle's chemistry textbook weighs 4/5 of a pound and her geometry textbook weighs 1/2 of a pound. How much more does the chemistry textbook weigh than the geometry textbook?

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

pounds

1 answer

To find out how much more the chemistry textbook weighs than the geometry textbook, we need to subtract the weight of the geometry textbook from the weight of the chemistry textbook.

The weights of the textbooks are:

  • Chemistry textbook: \( \frac{4}{5} \) pounds
  • Geometry textbook: \( \frac{1}{2} \) pounds

First, we need to make the denominators the same so we can perform the subtraction. The least common denominator (LCD) of 5 and 2 is 10.

Now, we convert both fractions:

  1. Convert \( \frac{4}{5} \): \[ \frac{4}{5} = \frac{4 \times 2}{5 \times 2} = \frac{8}{10} \]

  2. Convert \( \frac{1}{2} \): \[ \frac{1}{2} = \frac{1 \times 5}{2 \times 5} = \frac{5}{10} \]

Now we can subtract the weights: \[ \frac{8}{10} - \frac{5}{10} = \frac{8 - 5}{10} = \frac{3}{10} \]

Thus, the chemistry textbook weighs \( \frac{3}{10} \) pounds more than the geometry textbook.

The answer is: \[ \frac{3}{10} \text{ pounds} \]