Party, three friends, Ashley, Cole, and Lauren, shared a big tub of popcorn

Party, three friends, Ashley, Cole, and Lauren, shared a big tub of popcorn. Within 30 min, the tub was empty. Ashley ate \frac{5}{24} of the tub while Lauren ate only \frac{1}{8} of the tub. How much did Cole eat?

The Correct Answer and Explanation is:

To determine how much Cole ate, we need to know how much of the tub was consumed by Ashley and Lauren, and then subtract that from the total amount of the tub.

Step 1: Find the amount eaten by Ashley and Lauren

  • Ashley ate 524\frac{5}{24}245​ of the tub.
  • Lauren ate 18\frac{1}{8}81​ of the tub.

First, let’s express Lauren’s portion as a fraction with the same denominator as Ashley’s portion. To do this, we need to rewrite 18\frac{1}{8}81​ with a denominator of 24:18=324\frac{1}{8} = \frac{3}{24}81​=243​

Now, we can find the total amount eaten by Ashley and Lauren by adding their portions together:524+324=824\frac{5}{24} + \frac{3}{24} = \frac{8}{24}245​+243​=248​

Step 2: Subtract Ashley and Lauren’s portions from the whole tub

The whole tub represents 1, or 2424\frac{24}{24}2424​. Now, subtract the amount eaten by Ashley and Lauren:2424−824=1624\frac{24}{24} – \frac{8}{24} = \frac{16}{24}2424​−248​=2416​

Step 3: Simplify the fraction

1624\frac{16}{24}2416​ simplifies to 23\frac{2}{3}32​ when we divide both the numerator and the denominator by their greatest common divisor (which is 8).

Thus, Cole ate 23\frac{2}{3}32​ of the tub.

Conclusion:

Cole ate 23\frac{2}{3}32​ of the tub of popcorn.

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