Question

Anthony's mom had 4/5 of a pizza leftover. Anthony ate 1/2 of the leftover pizza. How much of the total pizza did Anthony eat?

Answer 1

Anthony ate 2/5 of the total pizza after consuming half of the leftover 4/5 of a pizza by multiplying 4/5 by 1/2 to get 4/10, which simplifies to 2/5.

Step-by-step explanation:

The student asked how much of the total pizza Anthony ate if his mom had 4/5 of a pizza leftover, and Anthony ate 1/2 of the leftover pizza. To solve this, we need to multiply the fraction of pizza Anthony's mom had by the fraction that Anthony ate. Here's how you calculate it:

1. Mom had 4/5 of a pizza left.
2. Anthony ate 1/2 of the leftover pizza.
3. To find out how much Anthony ate, multiply 4/5 by 1/2.

4/5 × 1/2 = 4/10 (also reduced from 2/5).

So, Anthony ate 4/10, or 2/5 of the total pizza.

This is an exercise in understanding and performing operations with fractions, which is an essential part of middle school mathematics curriculum. It highlights the need to have an intuitive sense of what fractional parts represent and how to manipulate them through multiplication to solve real-world problems involving portions and divisions.