Question

Students in a cooking class made 4 1/2 quarts of soup. They served 4/5 of the soup to friends. Each serving is 3/5 quart. Hector incorrectly says that there were 3 3/5 servings of soup. What is the correct number of servings? What did Hector do wrong?

Answer 1

Answer:

The correct number of servings = 6.

By saying there were $3\frac{3}{5}$ servings of soup, Hector must have intended to say that there were $3\frac{3}{5}$ quarts of soup for serving.

Step-by-step explanation:

Given:

Total quarts of soup made by students = $4\frac{1}{2}$

Fraction of the soup served to  friends = $\frac{4}{5}$

Each serving = $\frac{3}{5}$ quarts

Hector incorrectly says that that there were $3\frac{3}{5}$ servings of soup.

To find the correct number of servings and to identify Hector's mistake.

Solution:

Total quarts of soup made = $4\frac{1}{2}=\frac{9}{2}$

Fraction of total quarts served = $\frac{4}{5}$

Thus, total quarts of soup served = $\frac{9}{2}\times \frac{4}{5}$

⇒ $\frac{18}{5}=3\frac{3}{5}$

Thus, total quarts of soup for serving  =$\frac{18}{5}$ or $3\frac{3}{5}$

Each serving  = $\frac{3}{5}$ quarts

Total number of servings can be given as:

⇒ $\frac{Total\ quarts\ of\ serving}{Size\ of\ each\ serving}$

⇒ $\dfrac{\frac{18}{5}}{\frac{3}{5}}$

To divide fractions, we take reciprocal of the divisor and replace divsion with multiplication.

⇒ $\frac{18}{5}\times \frac{5}{3}$

⇒ $\frac{18}{3}$

⇒ 6  servings

Thus, the correct number of servings = 6.

By saying there were $3\frac{3}{5}$ servings of soup, Hector must have intended to say that there were $3\frac{3}{5}$ quarts of soup for serving.