Question

“Order these numbers from smallest to largest: 2/3, 7/8, 0.5, 2/5. Justify your answer”

Answer 1

Step 1

Given

`(2)/(3),(7)/(8),(1)/(2)\text{ and }(2)/(5)`

Required: To arrange them from smallest to largest.

Note: 0.5 = 1/2

Step 2

Find the lowest common multiple of the numbers in the denominator : 3,8,2 and 5

Hence, the lowest common multiple will be

`2*2*2*3*5\text{ = 120}`

Step 3

Use the LCM to arrange the numbers as seen below

From the numbers gotten from using the LCM, we can now conclude

Step 4

Arrange them from smallest to largest

`\begin{gathered} \text{From the size of the numbers related to the image above,} \\ 80->(2)/(3),\text{ 105}\to(7)/(8),\text{ 60}\to(1)/(2),\text{ 48}\to(2)/(5) \end{gathered}`

We can arrange them as follows

`(2)/(5),(1)/(2),(2)/(3),(7)/(8)`