SOLUTION: 1 1/4 divided by a=5 I am trying to help my son with this and we can't figure it out. Will you please show all the work so we can do the rest of his homework from your example?

Algebra ->  Numeric Fractions Calculators, Lesson and Practice -> SOLUTION: 1 1/4 divided by a=5 I am trying to help my son with this and we can't figure it out. Will you please show all the work so we can do the rest of his homework from your example?      Log On


   

Question 567103: 1 1/4 divided by a=5
I am trying to help my son with this and we can't figure it out. Will you please show all the work so we can do the rest of his homework from your example? THANK YOU!!!
Answer by josmiceli(19441) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
1 1/4 divided by 5
You can think of this as
+1%2F5+%2B+%28%281%2F4%29%2F5%29+
It's a little hard to imagine 1/4
divided into 5 equal parts, but if
you multiply the top and bottom
by +5+, like this:
+%285%2F5%29%2A%281%2F4%29+=+5%2F20+, the value
hasn't changed, and now you've got
+5%2F20+=+1%2F20+%2B+1%2F20+%2B+1%2F20+%2B+1%2F20+%2B+1%2F20+
and it's easy to divide by 5
+%285%2F20%29%2F5+=+1%2F20+
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So far I've got +1%2F5+%2B+1%2F20+
Multiply top and bottom of +1%2F5+ by +4+
+%284%2F4%29%2A%281%2F5%29+=+4%2F20+
Now I have +4%2F20+%2B+1%2F20+
+4%2F20+%2B+1%2F20+=+5%2F20+
Divide top and bottom by +5+
+%285%2F5%29+%2F+%2820%2F5%29+=+1%2F4+ answer
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(5/5) and (4/4) are just +1+, so
multiplying by them doesn't change the rest