Question

Mr. Dennison bought us teachers 5 1/2 boxes of donuts. We destroyed them - We

ate 3 9/10 boxes! How nany boxes are leftover?*

Answer 1

1 3/5 boxes

Explanation:

5 1/2=5 5/10

leftover=5 5/10-3 9/10=1 6/10=1 3/5

make sure to take 1 from 5

1=10/10

and add it to 5/10 since cant' take away 9/10

Answer 2

1 3/5 boxes

Explanation:

There are 5 1/2-3 9/10 boxes left over. We need to simplify this expression.

First, convert both fractions to improper fractions:

11/2-39/10

Now, convert both fractions to have a common denominator of 10:

11/2*5/5 (note we can only do this because any number over itself is equivalent to 1, so technically this is multiplying the number by 1)

55/10-39/10=16/10

Convert it back into a mixed fraction:

1 6/10=1 3/5 boxes