94.0k views
5 votes
Matt filled a bucket with 9 4/5 gallons of water. A few minutes later, he realized only 6 1/5 gallons of water remained. How much water had leaked out of the bucket?

Write your answer as a fraction or as a whole or mixed number.

gallons

User Organiccat
by
7.1k points

2 Answers

4 votes

Answer:

3 3/5 gallons of water leaked out of the bucket.

Explanation:

Creating an equation to represent the situation:

  • We know that the original amount of water - the leaking amount = the remaining amount.

Allowing x to represent the amount of water that leaked, we can represent this with the following equation:

9 4/5 gal - x gal = 6 1/5 gal

Converting 9 4/5 and 6 1/5 to improper fractions:

  • Before we solve, we can convert 9 4/5 and 6 1/5 to improper fractions for the sake of simplicity when solving.
  • When converting a fraction from a mixed number to an improper fraction, we keep the same denominator.
  • For the new numerator, we add the old numerator to the product of the whole number and the denominator.

Converting 9 4/5 to an improper fraction:

9 4/5 = ((9 * 5) + 4) / 5

9 4/5 = (45 + 4) / 5

9 4/5 = 49/5

Thus, 9 4/5 as an improper fraction is 49/5.

Converting 6 1/5 to an improper fraction:

6 1/5 = ((6 * 5) + 1) / 5

6 1/5 = (30 + 1) / 5

6 1/5 = 31/5

Thus, 6 1/5 as an improper fraction is 31/5.

Solving the equation for x:

Thus, we substitute 49/5 for 9 4/5 and 31/5 for 6 1/5 in our equation and then we can solve for x (the amount of water that leaked out of the bucket):

(49/5 - x = 31/5) - 49/5

(-x = -18/5) / -1

x = 18/5

Therefore, 18/5 gallons of water leaked out of the bucket.

Converting 18/5 to a mixed number:

  • To convert 18/5 to a mixed number manually, we do long division.
  • 18 is our dividend and 5 is our divisor.
  • We get a quotient of 3 and a remainder of 3.
  • For the mixed number, the quotient is the whole number.
  • The fraction part is the remainder / divisor.

Thus, 18/5 as a mixed number is 3 3/5, meaning 3 3/5 gallons of water leaked out of the bucket.

I attached a picture showing how we'd convert 18/5 to a mixed number manually with long division.

Matt filled a bucket with 9 4/5 gallons of water. A few minutes later, he realized-example-1
User Shreesha N
by
8.3k points
2 votes

Answer:

3 3/5 gallons

Explanation:

This is a subtraction problem. Subtract the amount of water remaining from the starting amount of water.

9 4/5 - 6 1/5 = 3 3/5

Answer: 3 3/5 gallons

User High Incompetance
by
8.0k points