Question

Mrs. Corbett signed 1/2 of all the holiday cards and Mr. Corbett signed 3/8 of all of them. Mrs. Smith will sign the rest of them. If there were 32 cards in all, how many are left to be signed by Mrs. Smith?

Answer 1

4 cards

Explanation:

1. Approach

First, find how much (
`(1)/(2)`) of all the holiday cards is. Then find out how much
`(3)/(8)` of all the cards is. After doing so, subtract both amounts from the total number of holiday cards.

2. Find out how many were signed

To find out how much a fraction of a certain value is, multiply the fraction by the value.

`32*(1)/(2)=16\\\\32*(3)/(8)=12`

3. Find out how many were left

Now subtract the number of signed cards from the total number of cards.

`32 -( 16 + 12)\\\\= 32 - 16 - 12\\\\= 16 - 12\\\\= 4`