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Jeanie has a 3/4 yard piece of ribbon. She needs one 3/8 yard piece and one 1/2 yard piece. Can she cut the piece of ribbon into the two smaller pieces? Why?

Answer 1

Cameron Arnold

No, it's too short.

#1/2 = 4/8#

So she needs

#3/8 + 4/8 = 7/8#

The length she has #= 3/4 = 6/8#

i.e. too short

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Answer 2

Autumn Arnold

Yes, Jeanie can cut the piece of ribbon into the two smaller pieces. Since the total length of the ribbon is 3/4 yard, which is equivalent to 6/8 yard, it is longer than the combined length needed for the two smaller pieces (3/8 yard + 1/2 yard = 5/8 yard). Therefore, Jeanie has enough ribbon to cut both the 3/8 yard piece and the 1/2 yard piece without running out of ribbon.

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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.