Jose needs a #5/8# meter length of copper pipe to complete a project. Which of the following lengths of pipe can be cut to the required length with the least length of pipe left over? #9/16# meter. #3/5# meter. #3/4# meter. #4/5# meter. #5/6# meter.

1 Answer
ErmWhat
Feb 20, 2018

#3/4# meters.

Explanation:

The easiest way to solve them is to make them all share a common denominator. I'm not going to get into the details of how to do that, but it is going to be
#16*5*3=240#.
Converting them all into a "#240# denominator", we get:

#150/240#,

And we have:
#135/240#,#144/240#,#180/240#,#192/240#,#200/240#.

Given that we can't use a copper pipe that is shorter than the amount we want, we can remove #9/16# (or #135/240#) and #3/5# (or #144/240#). The answer will then obviously be #180/240# or #3/4# meters of pipe.

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