Question

To make fruit punch for a party, we need 4 1⁄2 gallons of ginger ale, 1 gallon of strawberry juice, 2 3⁄4 gallons of frozen orange sherbet, and 1⁄8 gallon of whole strawberries. How many gallons of punch will our recipe make?

Answer 1

For this case we convert the mixed numbers to fractions:

`4 \frac {1} {2} = \frac {2 * 4 + 1} {2} = \frac {9} {2}\\2 \frac {3} {4} = \frac {4 * 2 + 3} {4} = \frac {11} {4}`

Now we add the fractions:

`\frac{9} {2}+1+ \frac {11} {4} + \frac {1} {8} =`

We find the least common multiple of the denominators. The l.c.m is 8, then we divide by each denominator and multiply the result by each numerator.

`\frac {36 + 8 + 22 + 1} {8} =\\\frac {67} {8} =`

8,375

Thus, the punch recipe implies 8.375 gallons. If we convert to a mixed number we have:

`8 \frac {3} {8}` gallons

Answer:

`8 \frac {3} {8}`gallons