Question

Sarah cut off 1/8 of a 48 inch piece of ribbon. Jane cut off 1/9 of a 36 inch piece of ribbon. they compare their cut pieces. who's piece is longer? how much longer is it?

Answer 1

All we need to do is to find out how much is 1/8 of 48 and 1/9 of 36:

1/8 * 48 =
= 48/8 =
= 6

1/9 * 36 =
= 36/9 =
= 4

It means that Sarah had 6 inches piece, while Jane had 4 inches piece.

Answer: Sarah had a piece of ribbon which was longer than Jane's one by 6 - 4 = 2 feet.