Question

A bird flies from the bottom of a canyon that is 85 4/5 feet below sea level to a nest that is 880 1/2 feet above sea level. What is the difference in elevation between the bottom of the canyon and the​ bird's nest?

Answer 1

The elevation of the bottom of the canyon is 85 4/5 feet below sea level. To convert it to the normal number, we can convert the fractional part to decimal by dividing the numerator by the denominator. So 4/5 can be converted to 0.8. Now we can add this decimal part to the whole number.

85 + 0.8 = 85.8

So the elevation of the bottom of the canyon is -85.8 feet below sea level.

The elevation of the bird's nest is 880 1/2 feet above sea level.

So the difference in elevation between the bottom of the canyon and the bird's nest is = 880 + 0.5 - (-85.8) = 880.5 - (-85.8) = 966.3

Therefore, the difference in elevation between the bottom of the canyon and the bird's nest is 966.3 feet

So, the bird flies 966.3 feet to reach the nest.