Question

Marcus is 5 7/24 feet tall Ben is 5 5/16 feet tall which of the two boys is taller? Justify your answer

Answer 1

To figure out who is taller, we can take each mixed number and find a common denominator.

5/16 (x3) 15/48
7/24 (x2) 14/48

This tells us that Ben is taller because Marcus is shorter than him by 1/48.

Answer 2

Ben is taller than Marcus

Explanation:

Height of Marcus =
`5(7)/(24)feet`

To write this mixed fraction in decimal the we need to split it and add the two terms-

`5(7)/(24) = 5 + (7)/(24) = 5 + 0.291 = 5.291`

∴Height of Marcus =
`5.291feet`

Height of Ben =
`5(5)/(16)feet`

Similarly we can write this also in decimal as-

`5(5)/(16) = 5 + (5)/(16) = 5 + 0.313= 5.313`

∴Height of Ben=
`5.313feet`

∴ Ben is taller than Marcus