Question

ASAP Help! Season’s junior high school is celebrating its centennial anniversary. When the school first opened, a tree that measured 3 3/4feet tall was planted. A hundred years later, the tree is now 25 feet tall. How many times taller is the tree now than it was when the school first opened? A. 6 4/5 b. 8 1/4 c. 22 1/5 d. 28 3/4

Answer 1

We have been given that a tree that measured $3\frac{3}{4}$ feet tall was planted. A hundred years later, the tree is now $25\frac{1}{2}$ feet tall. We are asked to find the number of times times is tree now taller than it was when the school first opened.

To solve our given problem, we will divide present length of tree by length of tree when it was planted as:

$25\frac{1}{2}\div 3\frac{3}{4}$

First of all we will convert mixed fractions into improper fractions.

$25\frac{1}{2}\Rightarrow \frac{25\times 2+1}{2}=\frac{50+1}{2}=\frac{51}{2}$

$3\frac{3}{4}\Rightarrow \frac{3\times 4+3}{4}=\frac{12+3}{4}=\frac{15}{4}$

$\frac{51}{2}\div \frac{15}{4}$

Now we will convert our division problem into multiplication problem by flipping the 2nd fraction as:

$\frac{51}{2}\times \frac{4}{15}$

Cancel out common factors:

$\frac{17}{1}\times \frac{2}{5}$

$\frac{17\times 2}{1\times 5}$

$\frac{34}{5}=6\frac{4}{5}$

Therefore, the tree is $6\frac{4}{5}$ is taller now than it was when the school first opened and option A is the correct choice.