The Electrician’s Wire Division: A Comprehensive Guide

As an electrician, you often need to divide a piece of wire into smaller segments of specific lengths. Let's explore a practical example to understand a method for dividing a 4 3/8 cm long wire into pieces that are 1 2/3 cm long. This guide will help any electrical professional or math enthusiast to find the solution step-by-step.

Step-by-Step Solution

The problem at hand is to determine how many pieces of wire 1 2/3 cm long can be obtained from a 4 3/8 cm long wire.

Conversion and Division

Convert the mixed numbers to improper fractions:

4 3/8: 4 (4*8) 3 35/8

1 2/3: 1 (1*3) 2 5/3

Divide the total length of the wire by the length of each piece:

Number of pieces (35/8) ÷ (5/3)

(35/8) * (3/5) (35 * 3) / (8 * 5) 105/40

Simplify the fraction:

105/40 21/8 2 5/8

Therefore, the electrician can make 2 full pieces of wire and will have a remainder of 5/8 cm.

Alternative Method: Partial Subtraction

To further confirm the solution, let's use a step-by-step subtraction method:

Subtract 1 piece (1 2/3 cm) from the total length (4 3/8 cm): 4 3/8 - 1 2/3 4 9/24 - 1 16/24 33/24 - 16/24 17/24 cm left over Subtract a second piece (1 2/3 cm) from the remaining length (17/24 cm): 17/24 - 1 2/3 17/24 - 16/24 1/24 cm left over Therefore, from the original wire, you get 2 pieces of 1 2/3 cm each and 1 piece of 1/24 cm.

Conclusion

The electrician has 2 full pieces that are 1 2/3 cm long and 1 piece that is 1 1/24 cm long, totaling 3 pieces.

Related Keywords

Keywords: electrician, wire division, improper fractions