Question

A 2/5 inch pipe is to be shortened to 1/4 inch. How much needs to be removed?

Answer 1

Shorten a 2/5 inch pipe to a 1/4 inch pipe, subtract the fractions to find the difference, which is 3/20 of an inch after using a common denominator.

Step-by-step explanation:

The question involves subtracting fractions to determine how much pipe needs to be removed when reducing its length from 2/5 of an inch to 1/4 of an inch.

This can be calculated using the steps below:

1. First, write the lengths of the two pipe sections as fractions. The original length is 2/5 inch and the desired final length is 1/4 inch.
   
   
2. Subtract the final length from the original length: 2/5 inch - 1/4 inch.
   
   
3. Before subtracting, find a common denominator for the two fractions. The smallest common denominator for 5 and 4 is 20.
   
   
4. Convert each fraction to an equivalent fraction with the common denominator: (2/5) * (4/4) = 8/20 and (1/4) * (5/5) = 5/20.
   
   
5. Now subtract the two fractions: 8/20 - 5/20 = 3/20.
   
   
6. The amount that needs to be removed from the pipe is 3/20 of an inch.