Quandaries and Queries
 

 

Who is asking: Student
Level: Middle

Question:
1gallon 3qt divided by 6= what?
21yd 2ft divided by 5=what?
please explain how

 

 

Hi,

I'll do the second problem and you can do the first.

Think of 21 yardsticks and 2 foot rulers placed end to end. You want to take that length and divide it into 5 equal-sized lengths. 21 isn't divisible by 5 but 20 is, 20 divided by 5 is 4. Thus take 20 of the yardsticks and arrange them into 5 lengths of 4 yardsticks each. That leaves you with 1 yardstick and 2 foot rulers.

Since 1 yard is 3 feet you can replace the yardstick with 3 foot rulers and now you have 5 foot rulers. Put one on the end of each of the 4 yardstick lengths and you can see that

21yd 2ft divided by 5 is 4 yards and 1 foot.

Penny

 
 

Go to Math Central