Jamal and Hanson weighed their backpacks on a scale. Jamal's backpack weighed 11 3/8 pounds and Hanson's backpack weighed 4 5/8 pounds. How much more did Jamal's backpack weigh than Hanson's backpack?
Write your answer as a fraction or as a whole or mixed number.
pounds
To find the difference in weight between Jamal's and Hanson's backpacks, we need to subtract the weight of Hanson's backpack from the weight of Jamal's backpack.
The weight of Jamal's backpack is 11 3/8 pounds.
The weight of Hanson's backpack is 4 5/8 pounds.
To subtract mixed numbers, we need to convert them to improper fractions.
11 3/8 = (8 * 11 + 3)/8 = 91/8
4 5/8 = (8 * 4 + 5)/8 = 37/8
Now we subtract:
91/8 - 37/8 = (91 - 37)/8 = 54/8
54/8 simplified is 27/4 or 6 3/4.
Therefore, Jamal's backpack weighs 6 3/4 pounds more than Hanson's backpack.