Question

Jackson is building a bookshelf and has a piece of wood that is 5/8 long. He needs to cut pieces that are 1/16 foot long. How many pieces can Jackson cut?

Answer 1

Answer:

6 is the Answer.

Step-by-step explanation:

A fraction consists of two parts the top number and the bottom one.

Think of the top number as the count and the bottom as the size indicator. So you have:

countsize indicator −−−−−−−−−−→proper names numeratordenominator

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Consider the action example of dividing 3 into 6.

We can do this division directly because their size indicators are the same. That is, we have: 61÷31. People do not normally write it this way but it is correct.

To directly divide the counts the size indicator must be the same

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So we need to see how many of 18 will fit into 34

We can not do this directly in one operation as the size indicators are not the same.

Lets make the size indicators (denominators) the same

Multiply by 1 and you do not change the value but

1 comes in many forms.

[34×1]÷18 → [34×22]÷18

[3×24×2]÷18 → 68÷18

Now that the size indicators (denominators) are the same we can just divide the counts (numerators)

countsize indicator→[68÷18]=6÷1=6

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I could explain more showing the connection between this and the shortcut method but what I have shown you will do for now.