Question

Trish is sorting bolts for her home repair business. She has an 8-pound bag of bolts. If each kitchen her team repairs requires 1/5 pound of bolts, how many kitchen can she repair? Joshua solves the problem by finding 8÷1/5=40. Melanie solves the problem by finding 8×5=40

. Use the drop-down menus to explain why Joshua and Melanie are both correct.

a whole number by a unit fraction is the same as multiplying a whole number by the of the unit fraction.

Answer 1

A whole number divided by a unit fraction is the same as multiplying a whole number by the inverse of the unit fraction.

Explanation:

Given

`8 / (1)/(5) = 40`

`8 * 5 = 40`

Required

Explain why both expressions are correct

No dropdown to select from. So, I will provide a general solution.

When a number is divided by a fraction.

Take for instance:

`8 / (1)/(5)`

The above can be expressed as the product of the number and the inverse of the fraction.

The inverse of 1/5 is 5.

So, we have:

`8 / (1)/(5) = 8 * 5`

The result of the above expression is:

`8 / (1)/(5) = 8 * 5 = 40`