The Correct Answer and Explanation is:
The correct answer to the question “What is half of 150?” is 75.
Finding half of any number is a fundamental mathematical operation that is equivalent to dividing the number by two. The question presented in the image asks for the result of this operation on the number 150. To solve this, you can perform the calculation 150 ÷ 2.
There are several straightforward methods to arrive at the answer. One common mental math strategy involves breaking the number 150 into more manageable parts. Since 150 can be seen as the sum of 100 and 50, you can find half of each part separately and then add the results together. Half of 100 is a very common calculation, resulting in 50. Next, you find half of 50, which is 25. By adding these two results, 50 plus 25, you get the final answer of 75. This approach leverages the distributive property of division, making the mental calculation simpler and less prone to error.
Another way to think about this problem is to consider the digits. You can think of 150 as 15 tens. However, since 15 is an odd number, it might be easier to break 150 into 140 and 10. Half of 140 is 70, a calculation that can be simplified to finding half of 14, which is 7, and then adding the zero back. Then, you find half of the remaining 10, which is 5. Combining these two parts, 70 plus 5, also gives you the correct answer of 75.
This concept of halving is not just an abstract exercise; it has many practical applications in daily life. For example, if you were splitting a bill of 150 dollars equally with a friend, each person would pay 75 dollars. If a recipe that serves a large group yields 150 cookies and you wanted to make a smaller batch for just your family, you would halve all the ingredients to produce 75 cookies.
To double check the answer, you can perform the inverse operation, which is multiplication. If 75 is truly half of 150, then multiplying 75 by 2 should return the original number. Performing the calculation 75 × 2 equals 150, confirming that the answer is correct.
