Question

5/8 of the staff members are male. The total working staff is 5/12 . How many are female staff?

A.5/24
B. 7/24
C. 5/36
D. 7/36

Answer 1

To find the number of female staff, subtract the fraction of male staff (5/8) from the total working staff (5/12). After equalizing denominators to 24, the calculation reveals that the fraction of female staff members is 5/24. Therefore, the correct answer is Option A: 5/24.

Step-by-step explanation:

The question asks us to find out the number of female staff members given that 5/8 of the staff are male and the total working staff constitutes 5/12 of all staff. To determine the fraction representing female staff, we subtract the fraction of male staff from the total working staff fraction.

First, we find the fraction of female staff members by the following calculation:

1. Subtract the male staff fraction from the total working staff fraction: 5/12 - 5/8.
2. To subtract these fractions, we need a common denominator, which in this case is 24. Thus, we rewrite the fractions as 10/24 - 15/24.
3. Now, we subtract the numerators: 10/24 - 15/24 = -5/24.

Since we cannot have a negative number of staff members, we need to make this value positive, which means the fraction of female staff members is 5/24.

The correct answer to this question is Option A: 5/24.