Question

Marcus is 5 19/24 feet tall. Ben is 5 9/16 feet tall. Which of the two boys is taller?

Answer 1

well, Marcus and Ben are both 5 feet tall and a little bit more, Marcus is 19/24 more and Ben is 9/16 more, so the 5's in the fraction are the same, so which one is larger, 19/24 or 9/16?

we can simply put both fractions with the same denominator, by multiplying one by the other's denominator, so let's proceed,

$\bf \stackrel{\textit{\large Marcus is taller}}{5~feet + \left( \cfrac{19}{24}\cdot \cfrac{16}{16}\implies \boxed{\cfrac{304}{384}} \right)}\qquad \qquad \qquad \stackrel{\textit{\large Ben}}{5~feet + \left( \cfrac{9}{16}\cdot \cfrac{24}{24}\implies \boxed{\cfrac{216}{384}} \right)}$