Thread: fraction word problem

A school administration has instituted a rule that students’ shorts may be no shorter than 1/5 of their height. Sam’s shorts were only 6 inches long, and the administration said that these shorts were 3/7 of the minimum length. How tall is Sam?

no algebra.

Originally Posted by nancymcwilliams

A school administration has instituted a rule that students’ shorts may be no shorter than 1/5 of their height. Sam’s shorts were only 6 inches long, and the administration said that these shorts were 3/7 of the minimum length. How tall is Sam?

no algebra.

You're dealing with an unknown quantity here, and algebra is used to deal with unknown quantities. It seems rather superfluous at best not to use algebra, but I'll try to stay away from the dreaded variable (x).

1/5 is the rule

Sam's shorts were 3/7 of the rule. Thus Sam's shorts, being 6 inches, were 3/7 times 1/5 or 3/35 off the rule.

Now, ask yourself, 3/35 of something must equal 6. Guess what it is.

Now, some people might think the word "something" could be misconstrued as a variable. If that be the case, I guess I used algebra to solve it.

Thanks the reason we dont use algebra is that I need to be able to explain this type of problem to an elementary school age child step by step. and they do not know algebra.

thank you for helping me solve it. now I can go on to explaining it.