You may need to sit down with your parents or with your teacher and go over how to add and subtract fractions.
1). "Perimeter" means the distance all the way around the square. With a square, all 4 sides are the same length. With <u>this</u> square, every side is 1-1/4 inches long.
Perimeter = length of all 4 sides= (1-1/4) + (1-1/4) + (1-1/4) + (1-1/4) =
(1 + 1 + 1 + 1) + (1/4 + 1/4 + 1/4 + 1/4) =
4 + 4/4 = <em>5 inches</em> .
2). (2-3/8) + (1-7/8) = (2 + 1) + (3/8 + 7/8) =
(3) + (10/8) =
3 + 1-1/4 = <em>4-1/4 .</em>
3). The difference is (1-1/6) minus (5/6) .
Before you start to do the subtraction, write the (1-1/6) as (7/6) .
Then the subtraction is (7/6) - (5/6) = 2/6 = <em>1/3</em> .
4). This one is almost the same kind of problem as #3. It's another subtraction.
If you need (2-1/4) all together, and you already have (1-3/8), then the amount you still have to find, or borrow, or buy, is the difference between those two numbers.
(2-1/4) minus (1-3/8) .
The trick is to write the (2-1/4) in some form that you'll be able to subtract (1-3/8) from it. When I learned how to do that, it was called 'borrowing', but I think now it's called 'regrouping'.
We need to work on (2-1/4):
-- take 1 from the 2, and change it into fourths.
2-1/4 = 1 and 4/4 and 1/4 = 1 and 5/4
-- Now, take those 5/4, and turn them into eighths. Each fourth makes 2 eighths. So 5/4 = 10/8.
Now, the (2-1/4) has turned into 1-10/8 . We did NOT change the value. It's still the same amount as 2-1/4 , but it's just written in a different way. And now the subtraction is easy:
(2-1/4) minus (1-3/8) =
(1-10/8) minus (1-3/8) = (zero and 7/8).
You need <em>7/8 inch</em> more string than you already have.
