How many bows can you make from #3 2/3# meters of ribbon if #1/4# of a meter of ribbon makes one bow?
1 Answer
You can make 14 bows. with some ribbon left over
Explanation:
There are two ways that students can TEACH THEMSELVES how to go about solving confusing problems like this.
1) Simplify the problem so that it is obvious
2) Then use the exact same method to solve the hard problem
Here is a
You have ONE yard of fabric
It takes 1/2 a yard to make a bow
How many bows can you make?
You obviously know that you can make
Here is how you automatically solved it in your head:
You thought "One yard divided into half-yard pieces"
This easy problem SELF-TAUGHT you the correct procedure:
You can make 14 bows. with some ribbon left over
People have good intuition when it comes to money, so re-writing a word problem as a money problem can let you see how to solve it.
This re-write is exactly the same as
"You have 3 2/3 yards. How many times can you use 1/4 yard?"
Probably you solved the money problem by thinking:
"I can get four quarters out of each of the three dollars.
Then I can get two more quarters out of the 66ȼ.
So I can make 4 bows from each of the 3 yards, and two more bows from the 2/3 of a yard
That comes to (4)(3) + 2
You can make 14 bows, with some ribbon left over