A piece of plywood 24 inches wide is cut into strips 2 1/2 inches wide. How many strips of this width can be cut?
24 / 2.5 = ?
100
1 1\2
To find out how many strips of width 2 1/2 inches can be cut from a piece of plywood that is 24 inches wide, we need to divide the width of the plywood by the width of each strip.
In this case, the width of the plywood is 24 inches, and we want to cut strips that are 2 1/2 inches wide. To divide by a mixed number like 2 1/2, we can convert it into an improper fraction first.
2 1/2 is the same as 5/2 in improper fraction form. Now, we divide 24 by 5/2:
24 ÷ 5/2
To divide by a fraction, we can multiply by its reciprocal (flipped fraction):
24 × 2/5
Multiplying 24 by 2 gives us 48, and dividing 48 by 5 gives us:
48 ÷ 5 = 9 remainder 3
Therefore, 24 inches of plywood can be cut into 9 strips of width 2 1/2 inches, with a remainder of 3/5 of a strip.