Question

A potter uses 3/5 of a pound of clay to make a bowl. How many bowls could the potter make from 10 pounds of clay

Answer 1

If he uses 3/5 lb of clay to make 1 bowl, then we need to find how many 3/5 there are in 10 to find out how many bowls he can make...

10 ÷ 3/5 =

to divide fractions, multiply the reciprocal.

10/1 × 5/3 = 50/3

50/3 reduces to 16 2/3

Since you can't make 2/3 of a bowl, 10lb of clay will yield 16 bowls.

Answer 2

This question presents us with a fraction that represents that amount of clay that is needed to make one bowl. We can use this information to create a simple expression:

We need 3/5 of a pound of clay to make ONE BOWL

So to make TEN BOWLS we will need 3/5 of a pound of clay multiplied by ten.

You can either do this by typing it in on a calculator, or by converting the fraction 3/5 into the form of a real number.

In this case 3/5 is equal to 0.6, so if we do 0.6 x 10 we end up with 6 pounds of clay which is your answer.