Draw a rectangle and shade 58 of it. Then, split the rectangle into pieces that are 14-inch long. How many pieces are in the shaded region?
2
Practice makes perfect
We are asked to find the number of 14-inch pieces that can be cut from a piece of metal that is 58 inch long. First, let's draw a rectangle.
Now we will shade 58 of this rectangle to represent the piece of metal that is 58 inch long. We can do that by dividing the rectangle into 8 equal parts and shading 5 of them.
Now we will divide this area into pieces that are 14-inch long. Note that 14 is equivalent to 28!
We can see that two and a half 14-inch long pieces can be cut from the piece of metal. We are not interested in a fraction of a piece, so we can say that only two 14-inch long pieces can be cut from the piece of metal.
Alternative Solution
Dividing Fractions
Dividing a piece of metal that is 58 inch long into smaller 14-inch long pieces can be represented with the following quotient.
5/8Ă· 1/4
To divide by a fraction, we multiply by its reciprocal.
5/8Ă· 1/4=5/8* 4/1
Let's multiply the fractions!
We found that 2 12 of the 14-inch long pieces can be cut from the piece of metal. We do not want to cut half a piece, so we can conclude that 2 of the 14-inch long pieces can be cut from the piece of metal.
