What is the area of a rectangle that has side lengths of 2/5 foot and 3/8 foot?
Would I just multiply 2/5 x 3/8=6/40?
Is 6/40 the correct answer?
Yes, area = length*width.
6/40 is the product, but you'll need to simplify it and include the unit of measurement squared. In this case, the answer is given as ____ square feet. How will you fill that blank?
To find the area of a rectangle, you need to multiply the lengths of its sides. In this case, you have a rectangle with side lengths of 2/5 foot and 3/8 foot.
To multiply fractions, you multiply the numerators (the numbers on top) together and the denominators (the numbers on the bottom) together. So, multiplying 2/5 by 3/8 would look like this:
(2/5) x (3/8) = (2 x 3) / (5 x 8) = 6/40
You have correctly multiplied the fractions and obtained 6/40 as the result. However, it is often preferred to express fractions in simplified form. In this case, you can simplify 6/40 by dividing the numerator and denominator by their greatest common divisor, which is 2:
6/40 = (6 ÷ 2) / (40 ÷ 2) = 3/20
Therefore, the correct answer is 3/20 of a square foot.