Question

Kirk bought 2 1/4 pounds of lemons. He used 1/4 of the lemons to make lemonade. Kirk completed this work and found that he used 9 pounds of lemons. Did he do the work correctly? Explain.

a. Yes. Kirk’s work is correct.
b. No. Kirk should have multiplied by the reciprocal.
c. No. Kirk should have divided one-fourth by 2 and two-fourths.
d. No. Kirk should have multiplied instead of dividing.

Answer 1

Kirk should not have ended up with 9 pounds of lemons used, as he only had 2 1/4 pounds to begin with. The correct calculation would show that he used 9/16 pounds of lemons to make lemonade.

Step-by-step explanation:

No, Kirk did not do the work correctly when he concluded that he used 9 pounds of lemons. The correct approach to find out how much of the lemons Kirk used to make lemonade involves multiplying the total weight of the lemons by the fraction that he used. Since Kirk bought 2 1/4 pounds of lemons and used 1/4 of them, the calculation should be:

2 1/4 pounds × 1/4 = 9/4 pounds × 1/4

To simplify, we multiply the numerators and denominators:

9 × 1 = 9 and 4 × 4 = 16, so 9/16 pounds of lemons were used.

Therefore, since 9/16 is less than one pound, it is not possible for Kirk to have used 9 pounds of lemons.