Question

Maggie works at a clothing store. a spool of ribbin contains 13 1/2 inches of ribbon. Maggie uses 2 1/2 inches of ribbon on each gift box she makes. How many gift boxes can Maggie make with one spool of ribbon?

Answer 1

A spool of ribbon contains 13 1/2 inches of ribbon.

Maggie uses 2 1/4 inches of ribbon on each gift box she makes.

How many gift boxes can Maggie make with one spool of ribbon?​

We need to divide 13 1/2 by 2 1/4 to get the number of boxes she can make.

`13(1)/(2)/2(1)/(4)`

Let us simplify the above expression (first, convert the mixed fractions to simple fractions)

`\begin{gathered} 13(1)/(2)/2(1)/(4) \\ (13\cdot2+1)/(2)/(2\cdot4+1)/(4) \\ (26+1)/(2)/(8+1)/(4) \\ (27)/(2)/(9)/(4) \end{gathered}`

Recall that division is the reciprocal of multiplication

`\begin{gathered} (27)/(2)*(4)/(9) \\ (3)/(2)*4 \\ 3*2 \\ 6 \end{gathered}`

Therefore, Maggie can make 6 gift boxes with one spool of ribbon.