Luisa bought 2 1/2 pounds of apples, 3 3/8 pounds of oranges, and 1 1/4 pounds of pears. How many pounds of fruit did she buy in all?
7 1/8 pounds
7 1/8
Mr Chen drives
To find the total pounds of fruit Luisa bought, we need to add together the weights of the apples, oranges, and pears.
First, let's convert the mixed fractions to improper fractions for easier calculations:
2 1/2 pounds of apples = (2 * 2) + 1 = 5/2 pounds
3 3/8 pounds of oranges = (3 * 8 + 3) = 27/8 pounds
1 1/4 pounds of pears = (1 * 4 + 1) = 5/4 pounds
Now that we have all the weights as fractions, we can add them up:
5/2 + 27/8 + 5/4
To add fractions, we need to have a common denominator. In this case, the least common multiple of 2, 8, and 4 is 8.
Now let's convert each fraction to have a denominator of 8:
5/2 = 20/8
27/8 = 27/8
5/4 = 10/8
Now we can add the fractions:
20/8 + 27/8 + 10/8 = 57/8
The sum of the weights of the fruit is 57/8 pounds.
However, it's better to express this answer as a mixed number rather than an improper fraction.
To convert the improper fraction 57/8 to a mixed number, we divide the numerator (57) by the denominator (8):
57 ÷ 8 = 7 with a remainder of 1
The whole number part is 7, and the fractional part is 1/8.
So, Luisa bought a total of 7 1/8 pounds of fruit.