Question

THERE ARE 3 BAGS OF APPLES WEIGHING A TOTAL OF 22 1/2 POUNDS. TWO OF THE BAGS WEIGH 6 3/8 POUNDS AND 3 1/4 POUNDS. HOW MUCH DOES THE THIRD BAG WEIGH?

Answer 1

I wasn't going to click on this one, but the all-caps enthralled me and hypnotized me.

first off, let's change all the mixed fractions to "improper" and proceed from there, keep in mind that if we subtract the two bags' weight from the total, what's leftover is the 3rd bag's weight.

$\bf \stackrel{mixed}{22\frac{1}{2}}\implies \cfrac{22\cdot 2+1}{2}\implies \stackrel{improper}{\cfrac{45}{2}} \\\\\\ \stackrel{mixed}{6\frac{3}{8}}\implies \cfrac{6\cdot 8+3}{8}\implies \stackrel{improper}{\cfrac{51}{8}} \\\\\\ \stackrel{mixed}{3\frac{1}{4}}\implies \cfrac{3\cdot 4+1}{4}\implies \stackrel{improper}{\cfrac{13}{4}}\\\\ -------------------------------$

$\bf \stackrel{\textit{sum of the two bags}}{\cfrac{51}{8}+\cfrac{13}{4}}\impliedby \textit{our LCD is 8}\implies \cfrac{(1)51+(2)13}{8} \\\\\\ \cfrac{51+26}{8}\implies \cfrac{77}{8}\\\\ -------------------------------\\\\ \stackrel{total}{\cfrac{45}{2}}~-~\stackrel{two~bags}{\cfrac{77}{8}}\impliedby \textit{our LCD is again 8}\implies \cfrac{(4)45-(1)77}{8} \\\\\\ \cfrac{180~~-~~77}{8}\implies \cfrac{103}{8}\implies \stackrel{third~bag}{12\frac{7}{8}}$