Question

When driving on a high way, noticed a sign saying exit to Johnstown is 1 3/4 miles away, while exit to Jerrystown is 4 1/2 miles away. How faris Johnstown from Jerrystown?

Answer 1

For this case we know that the exit to Johnstown is 1 3/4 miles away and the exit to Jerrystown is 4 1/2 miles away and we want to find the distance from Johnstown to Jerrystown. And in order to do this we just need to take the difference between the two fractions, but let's convert the values like this:

$1\frac{3}{4}mi=\frac{7}{4}mi,4\frac{1}{2}mi=\frac{9}{2}mi$

Then the distance between thw two cities is given by:

$\frac{9}{2}mi-\frac{7}{4}mi=\frac{18-7}{4}=\frac{11}{4}mi$

Final answer: 11/4 mi or 2.75 mi