Question

Rachel needs 5 1/2 yards of fabric to make curtains. She has a piece of fabric that is 1 1/4 yards and another that is 3 1/2 yards. How many more yards of fabric does she need?

Answer 1

Total length of 2 fabric Rachel has:

`1(1)/(4)+3(1)/(2)`

We change each number to mixed number and add after taking the common denominator. The process is shown below.

`\begin{gathered} 1(1)/(4)+3(1)/(2) \\ =(5)/(4)+(7)/(2) \\ =(5+7(2))/(4) \\ =(5+14)/(4) \\ =(19)/(4) \end{gathered}`

She needs 5 and a half yards, that changed to a fraction with denominator 4 would enable us to compare. Let's change it

`\begin{gathered} 5(1)/(2) \\ =(11)/(2) \\ =(11)/(2)*(2)/(2) \\ =(22)/(4) \end{gathered}`

She has 19/4 yards and she need 22/4 yards. Let's subtract to figure out how much more she needs.

`\begin{gathered} (22)/(4)-(19)/(4) \\ =(3)/(4) \end{gathered}`

The amount of more yards of fabric Rachel needs is:

`(3)/(4)\text{yards}`