Question

Mr. Mandel gave his class 12 minutes to read. 5 1/2 pages in that time. At what rate, in pages per hour, did Claire read?

Answer 1

5 1/2 pages in 12 minutes.
11/2 pages in 12 minutes 

How many pages in an hour?
well, an hour has 60 minutes

Let's write a proportion
11/2 / 12 = x/60
cross multiply
(11/2 * 60) = 12x
330 = 12x
divide both sides by 12
27.5 or 27 1/2 = x

27.5 pages per hour.

Hope this helps