Need to divide 9 11/16 into three, losing my mind!

[MightyLioness]

I'm making a dice pit and have 9 11/16 inches to work with. I need to have it divided by three with 1/2 of an inch subtracted for the two cross bars(1/4 each):


XXXX+XXXX+XXXX
I________________I
9 11/16

The X's being what I need to find the length for and the +'s being the cross bars.(Making 6 equal-as-can-be boxes)

I've tried converting into decimals and working that way, but I usually end up working with some crazy fraction like 1/58667 which can't be simplified for use.

As a confession, I'm terrible at math(and explaining) and perhaps it's a lot simpler than I'm making it out to be.

 

[MightyLioness]

-----a-----|1/4|-----a-----|1/4|-----a-----

3a + 1/2 = 9 11/16 = 155/16
Multiply by 16:
48a + 8 = 155
48a = 147
a = 147/48 = 49/16

Oh thank you very much! I'm thinking I would turn that improper fraction into a mixed number to get the final number I'd be reading on the tape measurer, correct? Which would be... 3 1/16.

I've gotten the 155/16 before, but now I know what to do with it!

Thank you for your answer!