Question

Will had $15 and fran had $45. Will spent $3 at the store. Fran spent an equivalent fraction of her money. How much did fran spend?

Answer 1

You can set up their money like this:

\[w = 15\]\[f = 45\]
Then, you can simplify them like this:
\[w = \frac{ 3 }{ 15 } = \frac{ 1 }{ 5 }\]
Now you know that if fran spent an equivalent fraction, the simplified versions should be the same:
\[w = \frac{ 1 }{ 5 } = f = \frac{ x }{ 45 }\]\[\frac{ 1 }{ 5 } = \frac{ x }{ 45 }\]
Then you can simplify by multiplying both things by the bottom of the fraction with x in it!
\[\frac{ 45 }{ 1 }*\frac{ 1 }{ 5 } = \frac{ 45 }{ 5 } = 9\]
Understand?

Answer 2

Thank you I thought the same but wasn't sure

Answer 3

No problem.