Question

an angelfish was 1 1/2 inches long when it was bought. Now it is 2 1/3 inches long. how much has angelfish grown?

Answer 1

In absolute terms, if we want to know much it it grew, we have to subtract the original height from the "after" height:


`2 (1)/(3) -1 (1)/(2)=2 (2)/(6) -1 (3)/(6)=`
since the two fractions have different denominators, i have brought them to the same denominator

the problem is that the second fraction is bigger than the first! so i will "borrow" 1 whole from the number and change it into the fraction, so I can subtract:


`(2+6)/(6) -1 (3)/(6)=(8)/(6) -1 (3)/(6)= (5)/(6)`

and the answer is

`(5)/(6)` inches!