The question says that Santa and Mrs. Claus each brought 4 1/2 pies. This means that the number of pies brought by each of them is:
[tex]\begin{gathered} Santa\Rightarrow4\frac{1}{2}\text{ }pies \\ Mrs.\text{ }Claus\Rightarrow4\frac{1}{2}\text{ pies} \end{gathered}[/tex]Therefore, the number brought by the both of them together will be:
[tex]\Rightarrow4\frac{1}{2}+4\frac{1}{2}=4+4+\frac{1}{2}+\frac{1}{2}=8+1=9[/tex]Therefore, they both brought 9 pies together.
