anyone good with math

[asumom]

i am trying to see if my daughters math is correct, but I am really stupid when it comes to math, If anyone could help me i would appreciate it . Thanks she is 6th grade and its fractions.

[Cindy]

I will give it a try! Math was not my strong suit in school, but I hav gotten better:D

[asumom]

ok I will tell you the problem.
Rob spent 4 hrs at the water park, he waited in line 2/5 of the time and swam 1/2 the time. What fraction of the 4hrs did he spend swimming and waiting in line?
they have to show all work or its wrong.

[Cindy]

ok I will tell you the problem.
Rob spent 4 hrs at the water park, he waited in line 2/5 of the time and swam 1/2 the time. What fraction of the 4hrs did he spend swimming and waiting in line?
they have to show all work or its wrong.

I got 3 3/5 hours :confused:

ETA-I did it two different ways and got the same answer.

[asumom]

how did you work it.

[GeorgiaMom]

ok I will tell you the problem.
Rob spent 4 hrs at the water park, he waited in line 2/5 of the time and swam 1/2 the time. What fraction of the 4hrs did he spend swimming and waiting in line?
they have to show all work or its wrong.

She has to find the lowest common denominator which would 10 in this case giving you 4/10 + 5/10= 9/10

[asumom]

got that.....

[Cindy]

The easier of the two ways was to figure out what part he spent swimming, which is 2 hours. Then to figure out what fraction was spent waiting in line, I multipled the 4 hours by 2/5 (4 x 2/5=8/5) That fraction needs to be broken down, which is 1 3/5. Add that to the 2 hours he spent swimming, and you get 3 3/5.

[Cindy]

The more difficult of the two ways is to start like GeorgiaMom mentioned. Once you get the 9/10, you need to multiply that by 4 hours, which 36/10. At that point, you need to reduce that fraction down, and you get 3 6/10, but that can go down further to 3 3/5.

[asumom]

yeah i figured the easiest way for her would be to go the half first and then the second half.
here is the other one
A FOOTBALL FIELD IS 120 YARDS LONG. ITS WIDTH IS 662/3 YARDS SHORTER THAN ITS LENGTH. HOW MANY YARDS WIDE IS THE FOOTBALL FIELD?

[GeorgiaMom]

The more difficult of the two ways is to start like GeorgiaMom mentioned. Once you get the 9/10, you need to multiply that by 4 hours, which 36/10. At that point, you need to reduce that fraction down, and you get 3 6/10, but that can go down further to 3 3/5.

The question asks for the fraction of time not the actual amount of time so the correct answer is 9/10.

[asumom]

you are right.

[Cindy]

yeah i figured the easiest way for her would be to go the half first and then the second half.
here is the other one
A FOOTBALL FIELD IS 120 YARDS LONG. ITS WIDTH IS 662/3 YARDS SHORTER THAN ITS LENGTH. HOW MANY YARDS WIDE IS THE FOOTBALL FIELD?

My brain is just not wrapping around this one for some reason! I'm sorry:(

[asumom]

thank you both for the help.

[Cindy]

When I read it, I look it as asking for how much of the four hours did he spend waiting in line and swimming. If they were looking for what fraction of time he did both, then it should be worded as What fraction of TIME did he spend swimming and waiting in line, which would be 9/10 of the time. But since it's asking for "What fraction of the 4hrs did he spend swimming and waiting in line", the answer should be based in hours.

Just my way of looking at it:(

[asumom]

I totally understand, I really think thats why these kids get so mixed up, My daughter is preparing for the TAKS in texas and she will probably flunk it, she has already had to take summer school for math and she is just 6th grade. Plus she has ADHD and doesn't really understand how it works(math that is)

[Cindy]

I know exactly what you mean. The school district that I went to is teaching "new math", whatever that is? Apparantly there must be another way to solve the good old problem 1+1=2! I hope she does well on her tests!

[asumom]

thank you I hope she does good but it just isn't looking good, I am hoping they do away with this TAKS mess its really confusing, my 2 older ones took it but they are book smart and the littlest isn't. My daughter is an elementry teacher and she thinks all this is crazy.

[GeorgiaMom]

yeah i figured the easiest way for her would be to go the half first and then the second half.
here is the other one
A FOOTBALL FIELD IS 120 YARDS LONG. ITS WIDTH IS 662/3 YARDS SHORTER THAN ITS LENGTH. HOW MANY YARDS WIDE IS THE FOOTBALL FIELD?

Once again, she can use a common denominator to show her work. In this case, she can use 3 giving her 360/3 -200/3= 160/3= 53 1/3 yards

[jessiegirl]

Anyone good with Algebra? I have some word problems that I am struggling with!

[GeorgiaMom]

Post the problems and I can try to help.