Question

Laura is tying ribbons in bows on boxes. She uses 2 1/4 feet of ribbon on each box. If she has 7 1/2 feet of ribbon left, how many bows (or parts of a bow) can she make?

Answer 1

2 1/4 feet of ribbon ---> 1 bow

7 1/2 feet of ribbon ---> x bows

$\begin{gathered} 2\text{ }\frac{1}{4}\times x=7\text{ }\frac{1}{2}\times1 \\ \frac{9}{4}x=\frac{15}{2} \\ \frac{9}{4}x\times\frac{4}{9}=\frac{15}{2}\times\frac{4}{9} \\ x=\frac{10}{3}=3\text{ }\frac{1}{3} \end{gathered}$

answer: 3 1/3 of bows