Need Help On a Maths Problem (1 Viewer)

[HAX0R]

Hello.

I received this maths problem and I don't understand how to solve it. I did all this equation stuff but it didn't really help. It's the only one out of all the questions which I'm stuck on so help would be appreciated.

Anne asked John to buy a certain amount of feet and ribbon at a store. However, John got the two mixed up. (So he bought x inches and y feet instead of y inches and x feet) When he returned, he realised he had only purchased 5/8 of what Anne had requested. Find the amount of ribbon Anne requested in inches and feet.

Thanks.

 

[HAX0R]

-

 

[RealiseNothing]

Is it 91 feet and 52 inches?

 

[HAX0R]

Is it 91 feet and 52 inches?

Tried it on the calculator and it was right. Any clue on how you got there?

 

[RealiseNothing]

Tried it on the calculator and it was right. Any clue on how you got there?

I converted everything to inches first using the example you gave. So he bought 'x' inches and 'y' feet becomes '12y' inches. This has to be equal to 5/8th's of 'y' inches and 'x' feet (which becomes '12x' inches).









Since 91 is a prime number, we can't simplify the fraction, and so x=91 and y=52. So he bought 52 feet and 91 inches, but really needed 91 feet and 52 inches.

 

[HAX0R]

I converted everything to inches first using the example you gave. So he bought 'x' inches and 'y' feet becomes '12y' inches. This has to be equal to 5/8th's of 'y' inches and 'x' feet (which becomes '12x' inches).









Since 91 is a prime number, we can't simplify the fraction, and so x=91 and y=52. So he bought 52 feet and 91 inches, but really needed 91 feet and 52 inches.

Ah, exactly what I did but then I divided everything by 52 and didn't know that 91/52 was x/y.

Thank you very much!

 

[Drongoski]

7 feet 4 inches

 

[HAX0R]

7 feet 4 inches

mmh, That also works. How did you get there?

 

[Drongoski]

By trial-&-error.

Also, for you young people who do not deal in feet & inches: we do not buy 6 ft 27 inches; we buy 8 ft 3 inches. So number of inches cannot exceed 11 if dealing strictly with whole number of feet and inches. Therefore x and y must not exceed 11.

 

[HAX0R]

Yeah, I guess so.

Thanks everyone.

 

[Kurosaki]

I converted everything to inches first using the example you gave. So he bought 'x' inches and 'y' feet becomes '12y' inches. This has to be equal to 5/8th's of 'y' inches and 'x' feet (which becomes '12x' inches).









Since 91 is a prime number, we can't simplify the fraction, and so x=91 and y=52. So he bought 52 feet and 91 inches, but really needed 91 feet and 52 inches.

It can divided by 13 and so can 52.
Edit: So drongoski is right.