Rickey has fraction 7 over 8 of a cup of cereal in a bowl. He then gave two fraction 1 over 4 cups of cereal from his bowl to his little sister. Which of the following best explains the amount of cereal left in Rickey's bowl?
To find the amount of cereal left in Rickey's bowl, we need to subtract the amount he gave to his little sister from the amount he originally had.
Rickey has 7/8 of a cup of cereal in his bowl. He gave 2/4 (which can be simplified to 1/2) of a cup to his little sister.
To subtract fractions, we need to have a common denominator. The denominators in this case are 8 and 2. The least common denominator (LCD) is 8.
Since the first fraction already has a denominator of 8, we don't need to make any changes to it. However, we need to change 1/2 into an equivalent fraction with a denominator of 8.
To do this, we multiply both the numerator and denominator of 1/2 by 4. This gives us 4/8.
Now that both fractions have a denominator of 8, we can subtract them:
7/8 - 4/8 = 3/8.
Therefore, the best explanation for the amount of cereal left in Rickey's bowl is 3/8 of a cup.