How to come up with unit rate for 1 day when give 1.5 days? Question: A gerbil drinks 2/3 of a wat

Tristian Velazquez

Tristian Velazquez

Answered question

2022-06-20

How to come up with unit rate for 1 day when give 1.5 days?
Question: A gerbil drinks 2/3 of a water bottle every 1.5 days. Use a unit rate to discover how many water bottles the gerbil drinks in 5 days.
When given problems like this before, I have used whole numbers and was easily able to figure out a unit rate for 1 day. Since I have fractions, I am confused on how to break 1.5 down to 1 all while changing the 2/3.
When I did this problem without a unit rate, I multiplied 2/3 by 3 and discovered that the gerbil drank 2 water bottles in 4.5 days. I then took 1/2 of 2/3 and got that the gerbil drinks around 2.3 water bottles in 5 days!
How do I compute this using unit rates?

Answer & Explanation

Braedon Rivas

Braedon Rivas

Beginner2022-06-21Added 24 answers

So we are given that the gerbil drinks 2 3 bottles every 3 2 days.
Hence, the amount it drinks in one day is 2 3 ÷ 3 2 = 4 9 bottles.
Hence, the amount it drinks in five days is 4 9 × 5 = 20 9 = 2. 2 ¯
The second step is the most important here: all you are doing is simple division, that gives you the unit rate.
Doing it your way, you said that 2 liters are consumed in 4.5 days. The remaining is 1 3 of 3 2 days, so the amount consumed in that time is 1 3 2 3 = 2 9 . Hence the answer is 2 2 9 = 2. 2 ¯
By the way, feel free to clear doubts, I know it's a sensitive topic.
Jaqueline Kirby

Jaqueline Kirby

Beginner2022-06-22Added 6 answers

Simply write down an expression for the rate and extend the fraction so that the denominator is 1:
The rate given is 2 3  bottles per  3 2  days. Here "per" means "divided by", so we have
2 3 3 2  bottles per day = 4 9  bottles per day 5 × 4 9  bottles per  5  days = 20 9  bottles per  5  days

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