Question

Ali took 3 1/2 hours to clean the bathroom. Then he took 4 1/3 hours to clean the bedroom. How much total time did Ali take to clean the two rooms? Write your answer as a mixed number in simplest form.

Answer 1

`7(5)/(6)\:hours`

1) Let's do it this way in parts. The first one is to add the whole numbers separately:

`\begin{gathered} 3(1)/(2)+4(1)/(3)\Rightarrow3+4=7 \\ \end{gathered}`

2) Note that the fractions do not have the same bottom number, so let's take the LCM(3,2) = 6 and then multiply each fraction by the LCM:

`3(1)/(2)+4(1)/(3)=(3+4)+((1)/(2)+(1)/(3))=7+(5)/(6)=7(5)/(6)`

So, Ali takes 7 5/6 hours