# How many 2/3 cup sugar bowls can be filled from 8 cups of sugar?

Oct 28, 2016

$12$ sugar bowls

#### Explanation:

It's just 8 divided by 2/3

But, dividing by a fraction is the same as multiplying by its reciprocal...

So,

$= \frac{8}{1} \cdot \frac{3}{2}$

$= 12$

Oct 30, 2016

$12$ bowls

#### Explanation:

Often fraction questions are difficult to interpret because we generally only use the most common fractions in every day life.

The first decision is always "What operation is it?"

Make up a similar question with easy numbers:

Compare this question filling sugar bowls with:

"How many groups of 6 children can we form with 48 children?"
$\rightarrow 48 \div 6 = 8$

"How many bags of sweets with 5 in a bag can be made with 45 sweets?"$\rightarrow 45 \div 5 = 9$ bags.

"How many servings of half a pizza can we get from 7 pizzas"
$\rightarrow 7 \div \frac{1}{2} = \frac{7}{1} \times \frac{2}{1} = 14$ servings

So the operation you need to do is division. $8 \div \frac{2}{3}$

$\frac{8}{1} \div \frac{2}{3} \text{ } \leftarrow$ change 'divide' to 'multiply by the reciprocal'.

=${\cancel{8}}^{4} / 1 \times \frac{3}{\cancel{2}} \text{ } \leftarrow$ cancel if possible

=$12$ bowls