THANK YOU!
Brenda and her family were driving to her grandmother’s house during a holiday. During the drive, Brenda fell asleep halfway through the trip. When she awoke, her family still had to travel half the distance that she had traveled while she was sleeping. For what fraction of the entire trip had Brenda been asleep?
Is the correct answer one half?
Math - Millie, Thursday, November 17, 2011 at 8:18pm
No. She fell asleep 1/2 way through sleeping.That left 6/12 of the trip to go. She woke up and still had 1/2 of the distance she traveled while she slept so she had 1/3 of half way to go. which means she slept for 4/12 of the trip or 1/3.
Your answer is 1/3
Yes, the correct answer is 1/3. To solve this problem, we need to understand that Brenda fell asleep halfway through the entire trip. So when she woke up, her family still had to travel half the distance that she had traveled while sleeping.
Let's assume the entire trip is represented by 1 whole. When Brenda fell asleep, she had already traveled half of the entire trip, which is represented by 1/2. When she woke up, her family had to travel half of the distance she had traveled while sleeping. This means they had to travel 1/2 * 1/2 = 1/4 of the entire trip.
To find the fraction of the entire trip Brenda had been asleep for, we need to subtract the distance her family had to travel from the distance she had traveled while sleeping. This is represented by 1/2 - 1/4 = 1/4.
Therefore, Brenda had been asleep for 1/4 of the entire trip. But this is not the simplified fraction. To simplify 1/4, we divide the numerator and denominator by their greatest common divisor, which is 4. This gives us 1/4 = 1/2 * 2/2 = 2/8.
So, the fraction of the entire trip Brenda had been asleep for is 2/8. To simplify this fraction further, we divide the numerator and denominator by their greatest common divisor, which is 2. This gives us 2/8 = 1/4 * 2/2 = 1/4 * 1 = 1/4.
Therefore, the correct answer is 1/4.