1. Given situation:
=> A piece of plywood is 24 inches wide
=> it will be cut into strips of 2 ½ inches wide.
Now, we need to find the numbers of strips in 24 inches plywood.
To do that, we simply need to divide 24 inches from 2 ½ inches.
=> Since 2 ½ is a mixed fraction (combination of whole number and fraction), we need to convert it into improper fraction.
=> 2 ½ = 5/2
=> 24 = 24/1
Now, we have 2 fractions. Let’s divide
=> 24 / 5
1 2
=>24 / 5 = 48 / 5
1 2 2 2
=> 9.6 or 9 3/5
Thus, there will be 9.6 or 9 3/5 of plywood strips.