SOLUTION: This is a problem i'm not quite understanding (more fractions! ) An eagle dives from its nest with a velocity of 8 1/3 ft per second . Find the vertical displacement in 4 1/2 s

Click here to see ALL problems on Expressions-with-variables

Question 19360: This is a problem i'm not quite understanding (more fractions! )
An eagle dives from its nest with a velocity of 8 1/3 ft per second . Find the vertical displacement in 4 1/2 seconds.
Answer by MelanieBCC(40) (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
it might make it easier if you look at fractions as division problems. the first thing I would do here would be to turn the 8 1/3 from a mixed number to a single expression by determining how many thirds are in 8 (multiply whole number by the denominator [bottom number of the fraction]). 1 has 3 thirds, so 8 would have 24 thirds. so 24/3+1/3=25/3
If the eagle moves 25/3 feet in 1 second, to find the number of feet it moves in 4 1/2 or 9/2 seconds is simple multiplication:

multiply the numerators (25*9) to get 225
multiply the denominators (3*2) to get 6
the resulting fraction is a simple division problem that gives your answer...
225 divided by 6 equals 37.5
The answer would be 37.5 feet