A wooden plank is 5 feet long and 1 1/2 inches thick. To make the plank 1 1/8 inches thick, a carpenter removes the same thickness of wood from the top and bottom of the plank. How many inches does the carpenter remove from the top of the plank? Express your answer as a common fraction.
(1 1/2 - 1 1/8)/2 = (3/2 - 9/8)/2 = (12/8 - 9/8)/2 = (3/8)/2 = 3/16
you do 1 1/2 - 1 1/8 because you want to know how much the carpenter needs to cut off. you get 3/8. then you need to divide by 2 because you want to find out how much the carpenter cuts on each side. you get 3/16 and that should be your answer
To find out how many inches the carpenter removes from the top of the plank, we need to calculate the difference in thickness between the original plank and the desired thickness.
The original thickness of the plank is 1 1/2 inches, and the desired thickness is 1 1/8 inches.
To calculate the difference, we subtract the desired thickness from the original thickness:
1 1/2 inches - 1 1/8 inches
To subtract these fractions, we need to find a common denominator. In this case, the least common denominator is 8, so we convert both fractions to eighths:
1 1/2 inches = 3/2 inches = 4/8 inches
1 1/8 inches = 9/8 inches
Now we can subtract:
4/8 inches - 9/8 inches = -5/8 inches
Therefore, the carpenter removes 5/8 inch from the top of the plank.
To solve this question, we need to find out how much thickness of wood needs to be removed from the top of the plank to make it 1 1/8 inches thick.
The initial thickness of the plank is 1 1/2 inches, and the desired final thickness is 1 1/8 inches. The difference between the initial thickness and the final thickness gives us the amount of wood that needs to be removed.
To find the difference, we can subtract the final thickness from the initial thickness:
1 1/2 inches - 1 1/8 inches
To subtract fractions, we need a common denominator. In this case, the lowest common denominator between 2 and 8 is 8. We can convert both fractions to have a denominator of 8:
1 1/2 inches = 4/8 inches
1 1/8 inches = 9/8 inches
Now we can subtract the fractions:
4/8 inches - 9/8 inches = -5/8 inches
The negative sign indicates that the top of the plank needs to be reduced by -5/8 inches to achieve the desired thickness.
However, since a negative value for the amount removed does not make sense, we can take the absolute value to get the positive amount of wood that needs to be removed:
|-5/8| = 5/8
Therefore, the carpenter needs to remove 5/8 inches of wood from the top of the plank.