Question

A carpenter has a board that is 8 feet long. He cuts off two pieces. One piece is 3 1/2 feet long and the other is 2 1/3 feet long. How much of the board is left?

Answer 1

Add 3 1/2 and 2 1/3, 

Firstly, find the common denominator. It is is 6

3 3/6 + 2 2/6

this gets you 5 5/6.

Take this away from 8:

8 - 5 5/6 = 2 1/6

So 2 1/6 of the board is left over.