Question

Maria placed a rain gauge in her yard to measure the amount of rain that fell during the school week. She checked the rain gauge every day and found that 1/4 of an inch fell every day for 3 days. On the fourth day, there was no change. On the fifth day, the amount of rain in the rain gauge had decreased by 1/8 of an inch. How much rain, in inches, was in Maria’s rain gauge on the fifth day?

Answer 1

Amount of rain in Maria’s rain gauge on fifth day was 5/8 inch.

Solution:

Given that Maria placed a rain gauge in her yard to measure amount of rain.

She checked the rain gauge everyday.

1/4 of an inch fell every day

So amount of rain in the rain gauge after 3 days =
`(1)/(4) * 3 = (3)/(4) inch`

There was no change in fourth day

So amount of rain in the rain gauge after 4 days = 3/4 inch

On fifth day, amount of rain gauge decreased by 1/8 inch

So gauge reading after decrease of 1/8 on fifth day = gauge reading on 4th day – 1/8

`= (3)/(4) - (1)/(8)`

`= ((6-1))/(8) = (5)/(8)`

Hence amount of rain in Maria’s rain gauge on fifth day was 5/8 inch.