Applied Problems Involving Fractions We will follow the same method from 181A to solve applied problems that involve fractions. Example The width of a piece of paper is 8½ inches. If you want the left and right margins to be 2/3 inches, what is the width of the written part of the page? Solution We begin by stating our goal: "The width of the written part of the page is inches" Next draw the picture letting x be the width of the written We see that the total width of 8½ is made up of the two margins and the written space. The margins take up
2 4 If we take away the margin width from the paper width, we get the width of the writing, that is
1 2
17 2
17 x 3 2 x 2
51
4
47
5 We can conclude that The width of the written part of the page is 7 5/6 inches.
Example You earn 6½ dollars per hour at your job. For over time work you get 1½ times your wages. If you work 4 hour of overtime, how much overtime pay will you get? Solution We begin by writing our goal: "I will earn $ ." Because of the word "times" we see that this is a multiplication problem. We write
1
1
4
13 3
1
13
3 39 "I will earn $ 39 ."
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