Problem of the Week - Upper Elementary - Aug. 30 to Sept. 5, 2020

Upper Elementary:

Question: Carlo had four 16-pound containers of clay. After he sculpted a 36-pound statue of Sir Ian

McKellen, how many containers worth of clay did he have left? 

Answer: 1¾ containers

Solution: We can find out how many containers Carlo used by dividing the amount of clay he used by the amount of clay per container. That’s 36 ÷ 16 = 2R4. Next, we can find out what fractional part of a container got used by dividing the remainder by 16 again. That’s 4 ÷ 16 = ¼. So, Carlo used 2¼ containers of clay. Now we can find that Carlo has 4 – 2¼ = 1¾ containers left.