Question

My kid won't stop telling about how hard his math is. Its getting annoying can you please answer this question for me?

Answer 1

Answer:  

box on top = 15

box on the bottom = 16

The fractions are not the same

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Explanation:

We multiply the 3 by 5 to get 3*15 = 15

We also multiply the 8 by 2 to get 8*2 = 16

So this is what you could have as your steps

$\frac{3}{8}*\frac{5}{2} = \frac{3*5}{8*2} = \frac{15}{16}$

The fractions 3/8 and 15/16 are not the same. We can use a calculator to get these decimal values

3/8 = 0.3750

15/16 = 0.9375

We see that 15/16 is much bigger than 3/8.

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Here's another way to show they aren't the same. For now assume they are equal. We'll show a contradiction happens later.

3/8 = 15/16

3*16 = 8*15

48 = 120

We end up with a contradiction since we get differing values on either side. The false equation at the end means the original equation is false too.