Question

A woman is 61 1/4 inches tall and her son is 59 1/18 inches tall. How much taller is the women?

Answer 1

2 7/36

Answer 2

61 1/4
-59 1/18
----------

Step 1 convert the fractions to a common denominator.

1/4 becomes 9/36
1/18 becomes 2/36

Now problem looks like:
69 9/36
-59 2/36
----------
10 7/36 the difference in their height is 10 7/36 inches

Answer 3

radar, isn't it 61 9/36? :S

Answer 4

Yes it is, oops so the difference (61 9/16 - 59 2/36) is 2 7/16 inches as you have posted.
Thanks for correcting that, and @kentsgirl21 please note the correction in the step.

Answer 5

61 1/4
-59 1/18
----------

Step 1 convert the fractions to a common denominator.

1/4 becomes 9/36
1/18 becomes 2/36

Now problem looks like:
61 9/36
-59 2/36
----------
2 7/36 the difference in their height is 2 7/36 inches