A bag of potatoes weighs 3 7/16 pounds. if the average potato weighs 3/16 pound, about how many potatoes are in the bag?

Do I divide 3 7/16 by 3/16 therefore

3 7/16 X 16/1
55/16 X 16/1 = 55 potatoes?

Yes

This is such a cool site! Thanks for your help

ugh it's 3/16

so 3 7/16divided by 3/16 =

55/16 x 16/3 = 55/3 or 18 1/3 potatoes. That must be wrong!
This is my daughter's 6th grade homework and it's been so long since I have done this math! She is totally confused and so am I!

Both of you are wrong.

First -- let's try some common sense. Each potato weighs almost 1/4 pound. There would be about 4 potatoes in a pound. The bag weighs a little less than 4 pounds -- so there can't be more than 20 potatoes in a bag.

Mathematically:

3 7/16 = 55/16

(55/16) / (3/16)

(55/16) * (16/3) = 880 / 48 = 18.33 or about 18 potatoes

SB -- You're right -- it's about 18 potatoes.

To calculate how many potatoes are in the bag, you first need to convert the mixed number weight of the bag into a proper fraction.

Since 3 7/16 can be written as (3*16 + 7)/16, it simplifies to (55/16) pounds.

Now, you can divide this weight by the weight of each individual potato, which is 3/16 pound.

To divide fractions, you multiply the first fraction by the reciprocal of the second fraction. In this case, you would divide 55/16 by 3/16 as follows:

(55/16) รท (3/16) = (55/16) * (16/3) = (55*16) / (16*3) = 880/48.

However, since it's asking for an estimate, you could round the result. In this case, it would be approximately 18.33 potatoes.

Therefore, the estimated number of potatoes in the bag is about 18 potatoes.