QueenieReighn Posted April 11, 2017 Share Posted April 11, 2017 So we are having a debate here and would love some help. Here is the math problem: Rena had some Brazil and Canada stamps. 4/7 of the stamps were Brazil stamps and the rest were Canada stamps. She gave away 1/12 of the Canada stamps to her best friend. What fraction of the Canada stamps did she have left? The book says the answer is 27/28 and one person here came up with the answer being 11/28 and the other with 11/12. A little help to end the debate please! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiana Posted April 11, 2017 Share Posted April 11, 2017 The problem is written wrong, it should be some variation "What fraction of her stamps did she have left?" 3/7 of the stamps were Canada stamps, and she gave away 1/12 of those, so she gave away (3/7)(1/12) = 1/28 of her stamps. She has 27/28 of her stamps left. 11/12 is correct as written. If she gave away 1/12 of her Canada stamps, she would have 11/12 of her Canada stamps left. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiara.I Posted April 11, 2017 Share Posted April 11, 2017 If the book says what fraction of the Canadian stamps are left, it should be 11/12. But if the book says what fraction of stamps are left, total, it should be 27/28. And if the book says what fraction of the stamps that are left are Canadian, it should be 11/28. Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QueenieReighn Posted April 11, 2017 Author Share Posted April 11, 2017 Thank you! I kept thinking this question is written wrong, but figured I was missing something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forty-two Posted April 11, 2017 Share Posted April 11, 2017 So we are having a debate here and would love some help. Here is the math problem: Rena had some Brazil and Canada stamps. 4/7 of the stamps were Brazil stamps and the rest were Canada stamps. She gave away 1/12 of the Canada stamps to her best friend. What fraction of the Canada stamps did she have left? The book says the answer is 27/28 and one person here came up with the answer being 11/28 and the other with 11/12. A little help to end the debate please!The question is confusingly worded imo. Given the book's answer, I think they mean to ask "what fraction of the *stamps* were left," not "what fraction of the Canada stamps were left". Wrt the question as written, I agree with the 11/12 answer - if you give away 1/12 of your Canada stamps, then you have 11/12 of your Canada stamps remaining. But that's trivial and probably not what they meant to ask. If you try to answer what I'm thinking they *meant* to ask, given the answer key, then here's how I'd do it: The canada stamps are 3/7 of the whole. 1/12 of the canada stamps are given away, which is (1/12)*(3/7) = 1/28 of the whole. So there are 1-(1/28) stamps remaining, which is 27/28. Does that make sense? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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