Fraction problem: "A boy baked a batch of cookies. only 1/3 of the batch was left after dinner...."

J

Jignesh77

Junior Member
Joined
Dec 8, 2020
Messages
66
Good morning,

Thank you in advance for reading this question. It's not a homework question. I saw the question on YouTube. It's about fractions word problems.
A boy baked a batch of cookies. only 1/3 of the batch was left after dinner. The next day the boy took 1/2 of the leftover cookies to school. What fraction of the leftover cookies did he take to school?
Our son is in year 6 and we want to help him. The answer is not given.
I really appreciate your help how to solve this problem (method)
 
Jignesh77 said:
Good morning,

Thank you in advance for reading this question. It's not a homework question. I saw the question on YouTube. It's about fractions word problems.
A boy baked a batch of cookies. only 1/3 of the batch was left after dinner. The next day the boy took 1/2 of the leftover cookies to school. What fraction of the leftover cookies did he take to school?
Our son is in year 6 and we want to help him. The answer is not given.
I really appreciate your help how to solve this problem (method)
Click to expand...
Hi,

The way you have presented the problem the answer is: \(\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}\).

However, what I suspect you intended to ask was: "What fraction of the original batch of cookies did he take to school?" rather than "What fraction of the leftover cookies did he take to school?" (which is what you actually asked). 🤔

Assuming that I am correct about that...

\(\displaystyle \frac{1}{3}\) of the original batch was left after dinner and he took \(\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}\) of that amount to school the following day.

Half of \(\displaystyle \frac{1}{3}\) is \(\displaystyle \frac{1}{6}\).

To find half of some number you multiply by \(\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}\) so the calculation written out in full would be:-

[math]\frac{1}{3} \times \frac{1}{2} = \frac{1\times 1}{3 \times 2} = \frac{1}{6}[/math]
(For further information and examples, have a look here, you can also find information on dividing with fractional numbers and other useful stuff about fractions to teach your child on that site too. ;))

Hope that helps. ☺️
 
Last edited:
You can jump to 3:20 (timeline).
My son, who is in year 6, thinks the answer is 1/6 whereas my wife thinks 1/2 is the correct answer. Unfortunately, the answer wasn't mentioned in the video.
Thank you for your help!
 
Hi, could someone please confirm the correct answer?
Is it 1/6 or 1/2.
Thanks. We would really appreciate it you could show how to solve this problem.
 
I have looked at the video and apologize to you. I thought you had transcribed the question incorrectly but I now see you have posted exactly what was in the video. Sorry.

However, it is clear, to me at least, that whoever wrote/typed the question failed to check its wording and it is further clear, from what the narrator says, that the intention was to provide a problem where multiplication by \(\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}\) was involved and that would provide the result I gave you above, ie: \(\displaystyle \frac{1}{6}\)

Therefore the answer the narrator was expecting is: \(\displaystyle \frac{1}{6}\) but the answer to the question the way it is written is: \(\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}\) because it (wrongly IMNSHO) says: "The next day the boy took 1/2 of the leftover cookies to school. What fraction of the leftover cookies did he take to school?".

There are two sentences there:-

"The next day the boy took 1/2 of the leftover cookies to school."

and

"What fraction of the leftover cookies did he take to school?"​

The answer to the question posed in the second sentence is given by the first sentence, ie: "...the boy took 1/2 of the leftover cookies to school."! Do you now see how the question (as written) is utterly pointless; it involves no calculation at all!

I already showed you how to calculate the answer (I believe they are looking for) although I did add the final few lines (showing the calculation) as an Edit after I had posted my initial answer and then noted that you wanted an "explanation" of how to get it. I also directed you to a website that gives full information & examples of how to carry out such calculations. (Please now re-read my full post above and go and look at the website I already gave you this link to).

I'm afraid the "how" of arriving at an answer cannot be explained any further than what I've already shown you (and is duplicated on that website). 🤷‍♂️

Hope that clears things up for you. 👍☺️
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top