Im stuped. Any math wizards out there?

[josh9mille]

So i was asked by my 7th grader with help on her math homework, but i have no idea how to solve this one. If anyone can help that would be cool. The question is 23/? = 4/9 Im stumped because from what i remember there cant be a decimal point in a fraction.

[whitrzac]

your daughter is learning about improper fractions...

[brian015]

The answer to that question is 51.75. But it doesn't seem like a very good math problem, because it should be a whole number.

[josh9mille]

I thought an improper fraction was like 6/5 and that would actually be 1 1/5

[brian015]

Originally Posted by josh9mille

I thought an improper fraction was like 6/5 and that would actually be 1 1/5

Correct: 4/9 is not an improper fraction.

But 23/51.75 is not a fraction that 7th graders should be using!

[PBO]

Originally Posted by josh9mille

I thought an improper fraction was like 6/5 and that would actually be 1 1/5

Convert to the metric system and fractions are less important

[josh9mille]

Originally Posted by brian015

Correct: 4/9 is not an improper fraction.

But 23/51.75 is not a fraction that 7th graders should be using!

Its actually advanced math, so maybe they are supposed to be learning it? I was never that good at math so i have never seen this kind of fraction before.

Originally Posted by PBO

Convert to the metric system and fractions are less important

LOL Sometimes i wish we would, but it would take a lot of getting used to.

[PBO]

Would it be rude to point out your spelling error too?

[What's_nitro?]

Did you mean to say "stumped" or "stupid"?

[Arct1k]

pretty obvious that your daughter should get a new maths teacher I'm betting it was supposed to be 24/

[josh9mille]

Originally Posted by PBO

Would it be rude to point out your spelling error too?

Originally Posted by What's_nitro?

Did you mean to say "stumped" or "stupid"?

No it wouldnt be rude at all lol. And yeah, supposed to be stumped but i couldnt edit the title of the thread

[josh9mille]

Originally Posted by Arct1k

pretty obvious that your daughter should get a new maths teacher I'm betting it was supposed to be 24/

That is a very good posibility. Even though it is this way in her book i guess it could be a typo

[Metallover]

All she needs to know is that it's a proportion. Proportions are among the most under appreciated tools of math.

23    4   Cross Multiply
-- = --
x     9   23(9)=4x  207/4=x

[lincpimp]

I always got the importance of have a "basic knowledge" of math, so that a person could apply said knowledge to a wide range of problems. That being said, I always thought a lot more "real world" problems should have been thrown out for the benifit of the kids.

As for factions, well knowing how to divide and multiply will usually allow most to figure them out. Improprt fractions could just be taught as a theory.

[BrianG]

Improper fractions are kinda necessary when doing proportions as Metallover indicated. How else would you do the cross-multiplication? I suppose you could convert the "proper" fractions to a floating point decimal, but you can easily lose accuracy due to rounding (especially if that answer is used in another calculation).

Of course, it depends on what the person gets into later in life. Probably the most common thing I do in programming is derive formulas from data. It's not especially difficult, but to do stuff like that, one needs to understand all the basics.