Question

An above-ground swimming pool is leaking. After 1/2 house the pool has leaked 7/8 of a gallon of water. How many gallons of water per hour is the swimming pool leaking?

Answer 1

1 3/4

Explanation:

The rate in gallons/hour is ...

... (7/8 gal)/(1/2 h) = 7/4 gal/h = 1 3/4 gal/h

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Simplifying compound fractions

The compound fraction can be simplified by multiplying numerator and denominator fractions by 2. Doing that makes the numerator fraction be 7/4 and the denominator fraction be 1. (7/4)/1 = 7/4.

You can also "invert and multiply", giving (7/8)×(2/1) = 7/4.

Or, you can make the denominator fraction be 4/8, so it has the same denominator as the numerator fraction. Then ...

... (7/8)/(4/8) = 7/4