Question

Mike bought 12 1/2 pounds of dog food to feed the animals at the kennel. The dogs ate only ate 3/5 ofthe food. How many pounds of food did the dogs eat?

Answer 1

`7.5lbs`

1) Note that Mike bought 12 1/2 lbs and the dogs ate 3/5 of those 12 1/2 lbs. So let's first rewrite that mixed number into an improper fraction for convenience:

`12(1)/(2)=(2*12+1)/(2)=(25)/(2)`

Note that we kept the denominator.

2) So now, let's calculate how much food did the dogs eat by multiplying

3/5 by this 25/2

`(3)/(5)*(25)/(2)=(75)/(10)=(15)/(2)=7.5lbs`

Note that we simplified that fraction to get an irreducible number