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James has #4 3/4# feet of rope. He plans to cut off #1 1/2# feet from the rope. How much rope will be left?

Answer 1

Eva Abramson

See a solution process below:

The calculation for this is:

#4 3/4 - 1 1/2#

First, convert both mixed numbers into improper fractions:

#(4 + 3/4) - (1 + 1/2) =>#

#((4/4 xx 4) + 3/4) - ((2/2 xx 1) + 1/2) =>#

#(16/4 + 3/4) - (2/2 + 1/2) =>#

#19/4 - 3/2#

Next, we need to get the fraction on the right over a common denominator with the fraction on the left:

#19/4 - (2/2 xx 3/2) =>#

#19/4 - 6/4#

Now we can subtract the numerators over the common denominator and convert the result back to a mixed number:

#(19 - 6)/4 =>#

#13/4 =>#

#(12 + 1)/4 =>#

#12/4 + 1/4 =>#

#3 + 1/4 =>#

#3 1/4#

James will have #3 1/4# feet of rope left.

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Answer from HIX Tutor

When evaluating a one-sided limit, you need to be careful when a quantity is approaching zero since its sign is different depending on which way it is approaching zero from. Let us look at some examples.