Mary filled a water cooler with \(6 \frac{1}{2}\) gallons of water. She forgot to close the plug, and \(2 \frac{5}{6}\) gallons leaked out. How many gallons of water remain in the cooler?
Answer (3)
re minin g g a ll o n s o f w a t er = w a t er f i ll e d − w a t er w hi c h \laked o u t re minin g g a ll o n s o f w a t er = 6 2 1 − 2 6 5 = 6 6 3 − 2 6 5 = 5 6 9 − 2 6 5 = 3 6 4 = 3 3 2 I n t h e coo l er re main e d 3 3 2 g a ll o n s o f w a t er .
Mary filled a water cooler with 6 1/2 gallons of water and 2 5/6 gallons leaked out. To find out how many gallons of water remain, we subtract the amount that leaked from the initial amount.
Convert the mixed numbers to improper fractions for easier subtraction. 6 1/2 becomes (6 × 2) + 1 = 13/2 and 2 5/6 becomes (2 × 6) + 5 = 17/6.
Find a common denominator, which is 6 in this case, so 13/2 becomes 39/6.
Subtract the amount that leaked from the initial amount: 39/6 - 17/6 = 22/6.
Simplify the fraction 22/6 to get 3 4/6, which can be further simplified to 3 2/3 gallons.
Therefore, 3 2/3 gallons of water remain in the cooler.
Mary initially had 6 2 1 gallons of water in the cooler. After 2 6 5 gallons leaked out, the amount of water remaining is 3 3 2 gallons. This was calculated by converting to improper fractions for accurate subtraction.
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