Question

A carton has a length of fraction 2 and 2 over 3 feet, width of fraction 1 and 1 over 3 feet, and height of fraction 1 and 1 over 2 feet. What is the volume of the carton?

Answer 1

Writing this problem in symbols instead of in words greatly simplifies it:

(2  2/3) * (1  1/5) * (1  1/2)

Write each quantity (inside each set of parentheses) as an improper fraction:

(8/3) * (6/5) * (3/2)

Now multiply the numerators thru:  8*6*3 / 3*5*2

Notice that we can reduce this by dividing the 8 by the 2 and dividing the 6 by the 3:                                                4*3*3             36
                                                        ----------  =  -----------
                                                             5                  5