Question

the Wilson's garden covers 5/8 acre. one fourth of the garden is planted with flowers. the rest is vegetables. what part of an acre is planted with flowers? with vegetables?

Answer 1

First, we get all our facts.
The garden is 5/8 of an acre.
1/4 of the garden is flowers.
3/4 of the garden is vegetables.
Now, we need to make an equivalent fraction of the acre that is divisible by four. In doing so, we can split it up for the flowers and vegetables. To do this, we need to find a number that is divisible by both the numerator (5) and 4, as that's how the flowers and vegetables are split up. Both go into 20, so we'll make our equivalent fraction 20/32 (5x4=20, 8x4=32)
After that, we divide the 20/32 into the two portions; 1/4 and 3/4.
1/4 of 20 is 5, so 1/4 of 20/32 is 5/32
3/4 of 20 is 15, so 3/4 of 20/32 is 15/32
And now we have the answers.
5/32 of an acre is planted with flowers.
15/32 of an acre is planted with vegetables.