Question

Ryan wants to plant 1/5 packet of seeds in each row of his garden. He has 4 packets of seeds. Ryan used the expression 1/5 divided by 4 to find the number of rows he can plant. Explain what is wrong with his expression.

Answer 1

Ryan should have done 1/5*4 instead of 1/5 divided by 4.

Answer 2

The correct expression to use is:

4÷
`(1)/(5)`

Explanation:

You know that:

• Total number of seed packets = 4 packets.
• Fraction of total 4 packet he want to plant = 1
  `(1)/(5)`th of total number of packets.

The division operation used by Ryan is correct. But in the case of the division the correct order is important at the time of realization since the result will be different.

The expression used by Ryan (
`(1)/(5)`÷4 means that each fifth of the packet he used will be divided further by 4.

But this is not what you want to get. In the given problem, the total number of 4 packages is divided into
`(1)/(5)` fractions, thus describing the situation of each fifth of the four packages will be planted in 1 row.

So, the correct expression to use is:

4÷
`(1)/(5)`

To perform this division, the SECOND FRACTION is reversed, that is, the denominator is changed to the numerator and the numerator is changed to the denominator. Then, the two fractions are multiplied.

`4*(5)/(1) =4*5=20`

There are 20 rows that Ryan can plant on.