1. A chef adds 8/5 cup of vegetable broth and 3 cups of chicken broth. How much broth did he add in total?
Solution
8/5 + 3
Convert 3 to fifths
3 = 15/5
8/5 + 15/5 = 23/5
2. Lily used 3/2 meter of blue ribbon and 4/3 meter of red ribbon. What is the total length used?
Solution
LCD = 6
3/2 = 9/6
4/3 = 8/6
9/6 + 8/6 = 17/6
3. Maya used 2 liters of orange juice, 5/3 liter of pineapple juice, and 4 liters of cranberry juice. How much fruit punch was made?
Solution
2 + 4 = 6
6 = 18/3
18/3 + 5/3 = 23/3
4. A fishmonger had 3 1/2 crates of fresh fish. He sold 1 3/4 crates to a restaurant. How many crates of fish does the fishmonger have left?
Solution
3 1/2 − 1 3/4
Convert to fourths
3 1/2 = 3 2/4
3 2/4 − 1 3/4
Borrow 1 from 3
2 6/4 − 1 3/4
(2 − 1) = 1
6/4 − 3/4 = 3/4
Answer = 1 3/4
5. A baker started with 1 whole cake. He sold 1/4 of the cake in the morning and 2/5 of the cake in the afternoon. What fraction of the cake is left?
Solution
1/4 + 2/5
LCD = 20
1/4 = 5/20
2/5 = 8/20
5/20 + 8/20 = 13/20
1 − 13/20
20/20 − 13/20 = 7/20
6. A gardener had 5 bags of potting soil. He used 2 3/4 bags of soil for planting flowers. How many bags of potting soil does the gardener have left?
Solution
5 − 2 3/4
Convert to fourths
5 = 20/4
2 3/4 = 11/4
20/4 − 11/4 = 9/4
9/4 = 2 1/4
7. A provincial disaster response warehouse had 7 3/4 tons of relief rice in storage. During distribution, 2 1/2 tons were sent to one municipality and another 3 2/3 tons were delivered to a neighboring town. How many tons of rice remain in the warehouse?
Solution
7 3/4 − 2 1/2 − 3 2/3
Convert to improper fractions
7 3/4 = 31/4
2 1/2 = 5/2
3 2/3 = 11/3
LCD = 12
31/4 = 93/12
5/2 = 30/12
11/3 = 44/12
93/12 − 30/12 − 44/12
= 19/12
= 1 7/12