Question

Martin and Sue are collecting clothes for a clothing drive. Sue collected 1/5 as many clothes as Martin did. If Martin collected 2 1/2 bags of clothes, how many bags of clothes did Sue collect?

Answer 1

Sue collected 1/2 bags of clothes.

Explanation:

Fractions

Let's solve the problem from end to beginning.

Martin collected 2 1/2 bags of clothes for a clothing drive. This mixed fraction can be expressed as:

`2(1)/(2)= 2+(1)/(2)=(5)/(2)`

Sue collected 1/5 as many clothes as Martin did. This means she collected:

`(1)/(5)\cdot (5)/(2)`

Multiplying:

`(1)/(5)\cdot (5)/(2)=(1)/(2)`

Sue collected 1/2 bags of clothes.