Question 484159
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How many 3 1/3' feet pieces of wire can you cut from a 68' foot long 
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<pre>
3 {{{1/3}}} = {{{(3*3+1)/3}}} = {{{10/3}}}.


{{{68/((10/3))}}} = {{{(68*3)/10}}} - {{{204/10}}} = 20 {{{4/10}}} = 20 {{{2/5}}}.


So, you may have 20 whole pieces of the required length and the 21-th piece of the shorter length.


<U>ANSWER</U>.  You can cut 20 pieces of the length 3 1/3' long.
</pre>

Solved.


This is all what you need to do.  This is all your teacher wants from you.


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This problem is specially created for beginner students to teach them to work freely 
with improper fractions and to convert freely mixed fractions to improper fractions.


So, the way as I solved the problem for you, is the way how this problem is designed to teach you, 
in precise accordance with your school curriculum.


If you will avoid manipulating with fractions, you will never master this technique
and always will fill yourself as a person who missed something important in your school mathematical education.


So, absorb everything from my post - - - use every opportunity.


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .


As this problem is posed, worded and presented in the post, it is clear
that this request is to provide a standard method/methodology/solution 
in the frame of a typical school curriculum for a beginner student,
who first time touches fractions and makes his/her first steps.


Therefore, if the visitor is not a person of caliber Archimedes/Galileo/Newton/Euler/Einstein,
(which is, obviously, not a case), the first way for him is to learn a technique as presented in my post, 
without being distracted. Any sidestep for such a visitor is a road to nowhere.


Once the standard methodology is mastered, this student can expand their knowledge in any other way 
they find most suitable - for example, solving by the way as proposed by the tutor @greenestamps.


As I see from the posts of other tutors, related to this problem, I am not alone in this my position.
Other tutors provided similar solutions to mine, sharing my point that this kind of technique must be studied first, 
because it establishes a basis.


&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Some people propose to build a house starting from the roof, 
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;but I prefer to build it starting from the ground.


&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;A house of knowledge in the mind of students - it is what I mean.