Yesterday, #7/8# of the 64 students in a contest gave their speeches. How many students gave their speeches?

1 Answer
Jun 18, 2018

56

Explanation:

Although not normally done it is correct to write #64# as #64/1#
It is very rare for you to see this used.

Also, in mathematics, the word 'of' is 'translated" to multiply.

Example: 2 of 6 #-> 2xx6#

So #7/8# of 64 #->7/8xx64/1 color(white)("d")->color(white)("d") 7/1xx64/8 larr "notice the 1 and 8 has swapped "#

When multiplying you can change the order.
Example: #2xx3=3xx2=6#

Note that #64-:8=8# giving:

#7/1xx64/8 color(white)("d") ->color(white)("d") 7xx8=56#