OG 12 : Problem Solving Q 225

there are 4 1/4 ths and 3 1/3 thrds, continue finding differences between the splits (start with the smallest)

1/4, 1/3, (1/4+1/4=1/2), (1/3+1/3=2/3), (1/4+1/4+1/4=3/4), (1/3+1/3+1/3=1)

|1/4-1/3|= difference is 1/12
|1/3-1/2|= 1/6
|1/2-2/3|= 1/6
|2/3-3/4|= 1/12
|3/4-1|= 1/4

So, 1/4; 1/6; 1/12

nishant raina wrote:Need help on Q 225 Problem Solving from OG 12.
I was able to follow the stem and estimate that there will be 5 cuts on pipe. But even after reading the ans explanation, still not sure about how the fractions are made.

Please help to explain how it will be solved.

Thanks
Nishant

Hi Nishant,
The question is looking for different lengths of the pipe.
Hence we can take any convenient number as the size for solving instead of choosing 1 yard and working with fractions.
I go with 12 (LCM of 3 and 4) which once again simplifies my solving .

So the marking for 3rd are the 0,4,8 and 12 cut.
Marking for 4th are 0,3,6,9,12
Altogether 0,3,4,6,8,9,12
So.. different markings are (0,3) -3 positions ; (3,4) - 1 position (4,6) -2 position while rest of markings are repetitions.

With this, I can easily find out the fractions to be 3/12 , 1/12 and 2/12
which is nothing but - 1/4,1/12,1/6.

Step 1: Divide the number line in 1/4ths
Step 2: Divide the number line in 1/3rds

Take each difference between 1.4th and 1/3rd interval number points