Question

An art teacher has 70 1 / 2 pounds of clay and 20 students. Each student will get an equal amount of clay. How much clay does each student get? Write the answer as a mixed number.

Answer 1

Suppose each student gets x pounds of clay.

Given that the teacher has 70 1 / 2 pounds of clay and 20 students. Each student will get an equal amount of clay.

Therefore,

$\begin{gathered} 20x=70\frac{1}{2} \\ 20x=\frac{141}{2} \\ x=\frac{141}{40} \\ =3\frac{21}{40} \end{gathered}$

So, each student gets

$3\frac{21}{40\text{ }}pounds$