Question

A building contractor has a piece of crown molding that is 48 ½ inches long. He cuts off one piece measuring 10 ¼ inches and another piece 2 feet ⅛ inch.How much crown molding does he have left?

Answer 1

14 1/8 inches of molding

Explanation:

In order to find the solution, we'll have to do 2 fractions subtractions.

To be able to subtract fractions, we have to make sure they are placed in the same denominator. So, the first thing we'll do is to convert all the numbers in 8th, because that's the greatest denominator.

`48 (1)/(2)  = 48 (4)/(8) = ((48 * 8) + 4)/(8)  = (388)/(8)`

`10 (1)/(4) = 10 (2)/(8) = ((10 * 8) + 2)/(8) = (82)/(8)`

For the last one, we'll first convert the 2 feet into 24 inches.

`24 (1)/(8) = ((24 * 8) + 1)/(8) = (193)/(8)`

Now, we'll subtract each of the two pieces cut from the original molding's length, first the 10 1/4 inches piece

`(388)/(8) - (82)/(8) = (388 - 82)/(8) = (306)/(8)`

then the 2 feet 1/8 piece

`(306)/(8) -  (193)/(8) = (306 - 193)/(8) = (113)/(8) = 14 (1)/(8)`

So, the contractor is left with 14 1/8 inches of molding.