Question

Please help. I got the 12 part can’t can’t seem to simplify the fraction bit.

Answer 1

Answer: D)  12 & 3/8

Whole part = 12

Fractional part = 3/8

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Explanation:

For now, let's just focus on the fractional parts of each mixed number.

We have these fractions:

• 1/4
• 4/16
• 3/8
• 1/2

The 4/16 reduces to 1/4, so 4/16 = 1/4

So in reality, we have these fractional parts.

• 1/4
• 1/4
• 3/8
• 1/2

It's not a typo that I'm listing "1/4" twice.

The next step is to get everything to have the same denominator. That denominator is 8 (aka the LCD)

• 1/4 = 2/8
• 1/4 = 2/8
• 3/8 = 3/8
• 1/2 = 4/8

Adding those new fractions gets us:

(2/8)+(2/8)+(3/8)+(4/8) = (2+2+3+4)/8 = 11/8

Rewrite that as a mixed number

11/8 = (8+3)/8

11/8 = (8/8) + (3/8)

11/8 = 1 + 3/8

11/8 = 1 & 3/8

We get the result 1 & 3/8, where 1 is the whole part and 3/8 is the fractional part.

Keep in mind that all we've done so far is add up the fractional parts. We were ignoring the whole parts from each original mixed number.

If we add the whole parts (3,2,1,5) we get 3+2+1+5 = 11, which adds onto the previous whole part of 1 to get 12. So that's where the 12 comes from.

The fractional part 3/8 comes along for the ride to get 12 & 3/8 as the final answer, which is choice D.

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An alternative route you can take is to convert each original mixed number into an improper fraction, then add those improper fractions (don't forget to get the LCD), and lastly convert the result to a mixed number.