Erika ran #3/8# mile. Maria ran #3/4# mile. Who ran farther?

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Answer 1 · 2018-01-12T01:59:22

Maria ran farther

To compare both fractions, first make their denominators the same.
The fractions are #3/8# and #3/4#

Take their LCM which would be #8#

So, the fractions now become,

#3/8# (it remains unchanged because it already has #8# in the denominator) and #6/8# (#3/4# becomes #6/8# because #4# goes twice in #8#)

So, we can see that #6/8# > #3/8#

Thus, Maria ran farther.

An easy way could be to look at both fractions and their denominators. #3/8# means 3 out of #8# parts and #3/4# means #3# out of #4# parts.

Definitely, anything divided into more parts will have smaller size and thus #3/4# is bigger.