Video Transcript
Olivia had a piece of cloth that was 20 and two-sevenths inches long. She shortened its length by four and two-fifths inches. Estimate the new length of the piece of cloth.
She has a piece of cloth that measures 20 and two-sevenths inches. And she shortens it by four and two-fifths inches. We can round 20 and two-sevenths. To round 20 and two-sevenths, we look at the fraction two-sevenths. And we want to know is two-sevenths more or less than half. Half of seven is three and a half. That means two-sevenths is less than half. Since two-sevenths is less than half, we round 20 and two-sevenths down to 20.
We do the same thing for four and two-fifths. Is two-fifths more or less than one-half? Well, half of five is two and a half. So two-fifths is less than half. And so we’ll round down to four. From there we say 20 inches minus four inches equals 16.
The estimate length of the new cloth is 16 inches.
