Question

Sammi had a total of 25 ft of ribbon. She cut off 13 ½ feet to keep, the remaining fabric she cut into 3 inch sections to make ribbons. How many ribbons would she be able to make?

Answer 1

First, find the total length of the remaining fabric by substracting 13 1/2 from 25:

$\begin{gathered} 25-13\frac{1}{2} \\ =25-13-\frac{1}{2} \\ =12-\frac{1}{2} \\ =11\frac{1}{2} \end{gathered}$

Since one feet equals 12 inches, multiply 11 1/2 by 12 to find the total length of the remaining fabric in inches:

$\begin{gathered} 11\frac{1}{2}\times12=11\times12+\frac{1}{2}\times12 \\ =132+\frac{12}{2} \\ =132+6 \\ =138 \end{gathered}$

Since each ribbon takes 3 inches, divide 138 over 3 to find the total amount of ribbons that can be made:

$\frac{138}{3}=46$

Therefore, Sammi is able to make 46 ribbons.