Question

Lenny is competing with his cousin, Jasper, in an indoor rock-climbing contest. At the start of the climb, Lenny makes his way 5 ¼ feet up the wall, while Jasper climbs 9 ¾ feet. How much farther did Jasper climb than Lenny?

Answer 1

`4(1)/(2)` feet further.

Explanation:

Since these are mixed numbers that are both in fourths, we can easily subtract the two numbers. However, I find it easier if we first convert both mixed numbers into improper fractions.

`5(1)/(4) = (5\cdot4+1)/(4) = (21)/(4)`

`9(3)/(4) = (9\cdot4+3)/(4) = (39)/(4)`

Now we can subtract the numerators:

`(39)/(4) - (21)/(4) = (39-21)/(4) = (18)/(4)`

`(18)/(4)` simplifies down to
`(9)/(2)`.

Converting
`(9)/(2)` to a mixed number is easy - 2 goes into 9 4 times (8) with one remainder so:

`4(1)/(2)` .

Hope this helped!