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On a farm, apples are sold by both the bushel and part of a bushel. If there were 2 full bushels and a customer wanted only half a bushel, the farmer would break one of the bushels into halves and sell the customer the half bushel. The farmer would then have one and a half bushels remaining. |
| Borrow from the whole number when needed. Convert the ONE that was borrowed into an equivalent fraction with the same denominator as the fraction doing the subtracting. If a there is already a fraction attached to the number, add the ONE onto it. |
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Maggie has 3 1/2 bushels of apples. Melvin wants to buy 1 5/8 bushels. |
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She can easily give Melvin 1 4/8. |
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She can give Melvin one of the 8ths. She is left with 1 7/8 bushels. |