Question

Tipsy eats ½ ½ of a box a day

Cosmo eats ¼¼ of a box a day
Willow eats ⅛⅛ of a box a day.
If Mr. Dungan bought 6 boxes of cat food this week, will there be enough food to last the entire week?

Make a claim and explain to Mr. Dungan whether there will be enough cat food to last the entire week.

Answer 1

Answer: There is not enough cat food

Reason:

1/2 = 4/8

1/4 = 2/8

1/2+1/4+1/8 = 4/8+2/8+1/8 = (4+2+1)/8 = 7/8

The three cats eat a combined 7/8 of a box per day.

Over the course of 7 days, they eat 7*(7/8) = 49/8 = 6.125 boxes of cat food. This value is slightly larger than 6, which means Mr. Dungan did not buy enough cat food. He'll need to buy a 7th box.

Side note: 6.125 = 6 & 1/8 as a mixed number.