Question

Please EXPLAIN

Each student in a pottery class is responsible for cleaning the area around his or her workspace at the end of the lesson. Each student's area is approximately 4½ ft. There are 13 students in the class. Assuming that each student cleans his or her area, how many square feet in total is cleaned? Solve the problem by each of these methods.

a) Convert the fraction to an improper fraction and multiply.
b) Use addition to rewrite the fraction, and multiply using the distributive property.

Answer 1

The correct answer is 58 1/2 feet. See below to understand the difference of both methods.

Explanation:

1. Let's review the information provided to us for solving the question using both methods:

Area of each student = 4 1/2 square feet

Number of students = 13

2. Let's use the first method to solve the question:

4 1/2 = 9/2 (Improper fraction because the numerator, 9 is bigger than the denominator, 2)

9/2 * 13 = 117/2

117/2 = 58 1/2 square feet

3. Let's use the second method to solve the question:

4 1/2 = 4 + 1/2 (Using addition to rewrite the fraction)

(4 + 1/2) * 13 = (4 * 13) + (1/2 * 13) (Distributive property of the multiplication)

(4 * 13) + (1/2 * 13) = 52 + 13/2 = 52 + 6 1/2

52 + 6 1/2 = 58 1/2 square feet