Question

Wendy has 10 ½ pounds of potato salad. She wants to divide the potato salad into containers, each of which holds 1 ¼ pounds. How many containers does she need? Show your work and answer in a complete sentence.

Answer 1

9 containers

Explanation:

Since Wendy wants to divide the 10
`(1)/(2)` pounds of the potato salad into 1
`(1)/(4)` pounds for each container, You just divide 10
`(1)/(2)` by 1
`(1)/(4)` using the following method:

Convert 10
`(1)/(2)` into an improper fraction:

`(21)/(2)`

Convert 1
`(1)/(4)` into an improper fraction:

`(5)/(4)`

Then finally divide
`(21)/(2)` by
`(5)/(4)` :

`(21)/(2)` ÷
`(5)/(4)`

This is the same as
`(21)/(2)` times the reciprocal of
`(5)/(4)`:

`(21)/(2)` ×
`(4)/(5)` =
`(42)/(5)` = 8.4

Since we cannot have 8.4 containers, we round it up to 9 containers, because for 8 containers, there will still be some pounds of potato salad left.