Question

On Sunday, Sheldon bought 4 1/2 kg of plant food. He used 1 2/3 kg on his strawberry plants and used 1/4 kg for his tomato plants. How many kilograms of plant food did Sheldon have left? Which number sentence matches the problem? *

1 point

Answer 1

`2(7)/(12)` kg of plant food

Explanation:

The second question doesn't have choices, so I'll answer the first question only.

In order to know how much plant food Sheldon has, you have to subtract
`1(2)/(3)` kg of plant food used for the strawberry plants from
`4(1)/(2)` kg of plant food. Then,
`(1)/(4)` kg will be subtracted from the difference.

• 
  `4(1)/(2)` -
  `1(2)/(3)` = ?

Let's convert both fractions into improper fractions first, so it will be easier to subtract.

• 
  `4(1)/(2)` =
  `(9)/(2)`

• 
  `1(2)/(3)` =
  `(5)/(3)`

Now, let's subtract.

• 
  `(9)/(2)` -
  `(5)/(3)` =
  `(17)/(6)` or
  `2(5)/(6)` kg of plant food

Next, you have to subtract
`(1)/(4)` kg of plant food used for the tomato plants from the remaining plant food of
`(17)/(6)` kg.

Let's subtract again.

• 
  `(17)/(6)` -
  `(1)/(4)` =
  `2(7)/(12)` kg of plant food

Therefore, Sheldon has
`2(7)/(12)` kg of plant food left.