Final answer:
Cooper grates a total of 1¼ cups of cheese by adding 1/2 cup of cheddar cheese to 3/4 cup of monterey jack cheese.
Step-by-step explanation:
To determine how much cheese Cooper grates for his family taco dinner, we need to add the amounts of both types of cheese together. Cooper grates 1/2 cup of cheddar cheese and 3/4 cup of monterey jack cheese. To find the total, we add these two fractions:
1/2 cup + 3/4 cup = 2/4 cup + 3/4 cup = 5/4 cups or 1¼ cups of cheese in total.
We reach this total by converting the 1/2 cup to 2/4 cups to have a common denominator with the 3/4 cup measurement, which makes the addition straightforward. After adding, we see that 5/4 cups is the same as 1 cup and 1/4 cup. Hence, Cooper grates 1¼ cups of cheese altogether.