Question

Six cousins inherited a total of 5/8 of their great aunt’s assets, which they divided evenly. What fraction of their great aunt’s assets did each cousin inherit?

Answer 1

Answer:  5/48

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Work Shown:

We'll divide the total 5/8 evenly among the 6 cousins.

(5/8) ÷ 6 = (5/8) ÷ (6/1)

(5/8) ÷ 6 = (5/8) * (1/6)

(5/8) ÷ 6 = (5*1)/(8*6)

(5/8) ÷ 6 = 5/48

Each cousin gets 5/48 of the aunt's assets.

So for instance, if the aunt had $48,000 in assets, then each cousin gets (5/48)*(48,000) = 5000 dollars.

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An alternative approach:

Draw 6 rectangles side by side that represent the 6 cousins. Then divide each rectangle into 8 pieces, with 5 pieces shaded. The yellow pieces represent the amount given to the cousins. For any given rectangle, 5/8 of it is shaded yellow. Refer to the diagram below.

Overall we have 6*8 = 48 pieces.

The first cousin gets 5 yellow pieces out of 48 total. The same applies to the other five cousins. So this is a visual way to arrive at the answer 5/48.