Last night, Rachel read for 2 ¼ hours. Mary spent ½ as many hours as Rachel reading. How many hours did Mary spend reading?

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THAT IS A GREAT MATH LEARING

or, using the distributive property,

1/2 (2 + 1/4) = (1/2)(2) + (1/2)(1/4) = 1 + 1/8 = 1 1/8

To find out how many hours Mary spent reading, we can start by determining how many hours Rachel spent reading.

From the information given, Rachel read for 2 ¼ hours. This can be written as a mixed number, which consists of a whole number part and a fractional part.

2 ¼ hours can also be written as a improper fraction, as follows:

2 ¼ = 2 + ¼ = 2 + (1/4) = 8/4 + 1/4 = 9/4

Since Mary spent ½ as many hours as Rachel, we can divide Rachel's reading time by 2.

(9/4) / 2 = 9/4 * (1/2) = 9/8

Therefore, Mary spent 9/8 hours reading.