Mary ate 4 1/2 pears and Camie ate 7 2/4 pears. If they finished all the pears in a box, how many pears were in the box?

11 pears
11 1/2 pears
11 1/4 pears
12 pears

1 answer

To find the total number of pears, we need to add Mary's and Camie's numbers together.

First, we need to convert the mixed fractions to improper fractions.

4 1/2 = 4 + 1/2 = 8/2 + 1/2 = 9/2
7 2/4 = 7 + 2/4 = 28/4 + 2/4 = 30/4

Now we can add the fractions together: 9/2 + 30/4 = (18 + 30) / 4 = 48/4 = 12

Therefore, there were 12 pears in the box. Answer: \boxed{12 \text{ pears}}