I am so bad at word problems! Help me find out how to figure this one out.

1/5 of the boys are absent and 2/5 of the girls are absent in Drew’s class. Bert thinks that you multiply, so his answer is 2/5 of the class are out. Elmo thinks that means 3/5 of the class is out. Ernie thinks 3/10 of the class is out. Kermit didn’t find out how much of the class are out, but he thinks the answer is between 1/5 and 2/5. Analyze each person’s answer to find out who is right. Then determine who knows the most math.

absent: b/5 + 2g/5

= (b+2g)/5

fraction absent = (b+2g)/(5b+5g)
...going nowhere

take an example,
suppose there are 25 boys and 30 girls or 55 total
boys missing = 5
girls missing = 12
total missing = 17
fraction missing = 17/55
which is none of 2/5, 3/5, or 3/10

now 1/5 = 11/55
and 2/5 = 22/55

mmmh?

Elmo is correct because 1/5+2/5=3/5.

Elmo and Bert. Nice

To solve this word problem and determine who is right, we need to analyze each person's answer.

Let's start by understanding the information given in the problem. It tells us that 1/5 of the boys and 2/5 of the girls are absent in Drew's class.

Bert's answer is that 2/5 of the class is out. He thinks that we need to multiply the fractions 1/5 and 2/5. To check if Bert is correct, we can multiply these fractions together: (1/5) * (2/5) = 2/25. This means that 2/25 of the class is made up of absent boys and girls, not 2/5. Bert's answer is incorrect.

Elmo's answer is that 3/5 of the class is out. There is no direct explanation given for Elmo's reasoning. However, since we know that only 1/5 of the boys are absent and 2/5 of the girls are absent, it is not possible for 3/5 of the class to be absent. Elmo's answer is incorrect.

Ernie's answer is that 3/10 of the class is out. Again, there is no explanation given for Ernie's thinking. By adding 1/5 and 2/5, we can calculate the total absent students: (1/5) + (2/5) = 3/5. This means that 3/5 of the class is absent, not 3/10. Ernie's answer is incorrect.

Kermit did not provide an exact answer but suggested that the answer is between 1/5 and 2/5. Given the correct answer of 3/5, Kermit's estimation is closer to the correct value than the other three.

In conclusion, none of the given answers are completely correct, but Kermit's estimation is the closest. However, it's important to note that this assessment only evaluates the accuracy of their answers and does not determine who knows the most math.