GED Math: More Fractions… in Real Life Problems.

Hey, all. I know fractions is a big problem for the GED. Here’s another problem: word problems! The GED is full of ‘em. That’s cuz the GED wants to know if you can solve problems you might run across in life. I know word problems don’t always seem like real life, but they’re tryin’ to reflect everyday problems, you know. Stuff that might happen to you.

So, here’s somethin’ that happened. And I figure it makes a pretty good word problem, especially since it’s got to do with fractions. So, lemme explain somethin’ first. I don’t cook, generally. But my friend Liz, she cooks all the time. She says it’s better for you to eat at home, and cheaper, too, and I guess I can’t argue too much widdat. So, she says she gonna teach me how to cook, right? So, she’s showin’ me how to make pancakes.

Well, the recipe for pancakes says 1-1/2 cups flour, but I don’t got a lot of measuring cups and stuff in my kitchen, and after looking around, all I could come up with is a 1/3-cup measuring cup, which I don’t know how it got there, but there it was. So, here’s the question: how many 1/3 cups of flour do I need to put in to get 1-1/2 cups?

How’s that for a word problem?

Any ideas? How’d you set about it, d’y think?

Well, here’s how I did it. I know that 3 of the 1/3 measures will give me 1 cup. Then, I need 1/2 cup. Well, if three 1/3 cups give me a whole cup, then half of that will give me a half cup. Follow? That’s 1-1/2 of the 1/3 measures. So all together, three plus 1-1/2 is 4-1/2 of the 1/3 cup measures. So, I measure out 4 and eyeball a half of the 1/3 measure. That gives me 1-1/2 cups, but I got to get some measuring cups!! Did you figure it out?

Well, how about lookin’ at the math? What we’re really doin’ here is dividing…. how many times do 1/3 go into 1-1/2… how many 1/3rds are in 1-1/2 cups? So you could write it out:

1-1/2 ÷ 1/3 =

Now, first off, I’m going to change 1-1/2 to an improper fraction, so it’s all one fraction. 1-1/2 is the same as 3/2 (that’s 2/2 plus 1/2)… so we got:

3/2 ÷ 1/3 =

Now, to DIVIDE fractions, you gotta do a switcheroo. You turn over the second fraction, so 1/3 becomes 3/1, and you change division to multiplication…

3/2 × 3/1 =

Both those steps just make the problem easier. Now, to multiply two fractions, you multiply across the top (3 × 3 = 9) to get the top, and multiply across the bottom (2 × 1 = 2) to get the bottom:

3/2 × 3/1 = 9/2

How much is 9/2? 2 goes into 9 four times, with 1 left over:

3/2 × 3/1 = 9/2 = 4-1/2

Four and a half! Same as I got just by thinkin’ it through. How’s that for some math?

How’d you do? Be sure to send me any GED problems you havin’ trouble with!

For more information about the GED test and GED test preparation, visit The GED Academy at http://www.passGED.com.