BUSINESS MATHEMATICS

MODULE
Module No. 2: Week 2: FIRST Quarter

SOLVING PROBLEMS INVOLVING FRACTIONS, DECIMALS

AND PERCENT

Learning Competencies

Solve problems involving fractions, decimals, and percent

CODE: ABM_BM11FO-Id-5

Objectives

At the end of this module, the learners will be able to:

1. perform operations involving fractions, decimals and percent
2. analyze word problems involving fractions, decimals and percent for them to be able
to answer problems.
3. answer the questions with honesty, sincerity and truthfulness
4. apply their knowledge in fractions, decimals and percent, to real-life situations.

Let’s Understand
So, how do you find the activity above? Was it easy, average or difficult for you? How do you
say so? How will you connect the statement above to this module?

It will be easier for you to solve problems if you understand what the problem intends to say.
Look for information that will help you to arrive at the answer. Remember to use common sense in
thinking about solving problems. Sometimes, the first thing you can think of might be the best way to
solve the problem.

For this module, we will divide the topics into three parts: Solving Problems Involving
Fractions, Solving Problems Involving Decimals and Solving Problems Involving Decimals.

A. Solving Problems Involving Fractions

3 1
Example 1: Dr. John gives his patient, Aldous, 1 teaspoons of medicine in the morning and 2 at
4 2
night for his cough and colds. How many teaspoons does Aldous receive daily?
1
Solution: We should add the medicine given in the morning and at night to get the number of teaspoons
given daily.

3 3 First, change dissimilar

1 = 1 fractions to similar fractions
4 4 first, if possible.
1 2
+ 2 = 2
2 4
Then, separate the whole Recall: Dissimilar
5 5 number from the improper fractions are fractions
3 = 3+ fraction, if possible. having different
4 4 denominators
3 1
and are dissimilar
5 4 2
=3 + Next, change improper fractions
4 fraction to mixed number, if Similar fractions are
possible. Lastly, add. fractions having same
1 denominators
= 3 + 1 3 2
4 4
and
4
are similar
Reduce your answer to its
fractions
1 lowest term if possible.
=4
4
𝟏
Therefore, the patient receives 𝟒 teaspoons of medicine daily.
𝟒

1 1
Example 2: Gino wants to cut 4 feet from a board that is 11 feet long for his project in Business
3 4

Mathematics. How long is the remaining part of the board?

1 1
Solution: From the word “remaining”, we should subtract 11 to 4 .
4 3

First, change Since 3 is less Simply

dissimilar than 4, we should subtract
fractions to borrow a whole to the terms
similar fractions 11, making it 10.
first, if possible. Then, we can add.

1 3 12 3 15
11 = 11 = 10 + = 10
4 12 12 12 12

1 4 4
− 4 = 4 = 4
3 12 12

11
Note: Reduce your answer to its lowest term, if possible. 6
12
𝟏𝟏
Therefore, the remaining part of the board is 𝟔 feet.
𝟏𝟐

Example 3: A satellite makes 6 revolutions of the earth in one day. How many revolutions would it
2
make in 7 days?
3

2
Solution: Since a satellite makes 6 revolutions a day, we should multiply it to know the number of
2
revolutions it can make in 7 days.
3

2 6 23 Change mixed number to an

6⨯7 = ⨯ improper fraction, if possible
3 1 3
2
6 23 Next, cancel out any common
= ⨯ Recall: Common
1 3 factor/s, other than 1, from Factors are factors of
1 two or more numbers
numerators and
2 23 denominators, if possible which are common.
= ⨯ Example:
1 1 Factors of 6 are
Change the improper 1,2,3,6
46
= = 46 revolutions fraction back to mixed
Factors of 3 are 1, 3
1 Common factors of 3
number, if possible. and 6 are 1,3
𝟐
Therefore, there will be 46 revolutions in 𝟕 days.
𝟑

Note: If the denominator is 1, then the answer is already a whole number.

Remember that any number divided by 1 is itself.

1
Example 4: If 4 boxes of chocolates weigh 13 pounds, find the weight per box.
5

Solution: Note that the word ‘per’ means divide, so the operation to be used is division

1 66 4 Change any mixed number to

13 ÷4 = ÷ an improper fraction, if possible.
5 5 1

66 1 Get the reciprocal of the divisor and

= ⨯ change the operation from division
5 4 to multiplication
33
Recall: Divisor is the
66 1
= ⨯ Next, cancel out any common number being divided
5 4 factor/s, other than 1, from to.
2 66 4
numerators and Example: ÷ 1,
33 denominators, if possible 4
5
= is the divisor
10 1
Change the improper Reciprocal is a way in
3 fraction back to mixed which the numerator
= 3 pounds and denominator
10 number, if possible.
switch places.
Example: The
𝟑 4 1
Therefore, each box of chocolates weighs 𝟑 pounds. reciprocal of is .
𝟏𝟎 1 4

B. Solving Problems Involving Decimals

Example 1: Mark, Matthew and Joey have a combined height of 5 meters. If Mark is 1.82 meters tall
and Matthew is 1.57 meters tall, how tall is Joey? 1
1.82
Solution: Mark is 1.82 meters tall and Matthew is 1.57 meters tall.
+ 1.57
3 3.39
Their combined height is 1.82 meters + 1.57 meters = 3.39 meters.

The three men have a combined height of 5 meters. We should subtract it to the combined height of
Mark and Matthew to get the height of Joey. 9
4 10 10
5.00
5.00 meters – 3.39 meters = 1.61 meters.
- 3.39
1.61
Therefore, Joey is 1.61 meters tall.

Example 2: Find the area of the circle with radius of 5 centimeters. The formula for the area of a circle
is 𝐴 = 𝜋𝑟 2 where r is the radius. Use 3.14 for the value of 𝜋.

Solution: To get the area of a circle, A, we must multiply 𝜋, which is 3.14, to the square of the radius,
r. Recall: Squaring the radius Place the
means to multiply the radius to 2 decimal point
𝐴 = 𝜋𝑟 2 itself one time. 3.14 (2 decimal places) in the answer
((5 𝑐𝑚)2 ) = (5cm)(5𝑐𝑚) by starting at
𝐴 = (3.14)((5 𝑐𝑚)2 )
⨯
1
25 (0 decimal places) the right and
moving a
Note that when multiplying, 1570 number of
𝐴 = (3.14)(25 𝑐𝑚2 ) you can use the symbol ⨯ , 628_ place equal to
i.e. 5cm ⨯ 5𝑐𝑚 the sum of
or by putting parentheses 78.50 (2 decimal places) both numbers
𝐴 = 78.5 𝑐𝑚2 multiplied.
i.e. (5cm)(5𝑐𝑚)

Therefore, the area of the circle with radius of 5 centimeters is 𝟕𝟖. 𝟓 𝒄𝒎𝟐
Note: We can drop the zeros at the end of a number, that are in the decimal
portion of a number, because they do give no additional information, yet they
share the same value. Example: 78.50 can be written as 78.5

Example 3: Silvanna bought 7.25m of ribbon for P261.00. Find the cost price per meter.

Solution:

Ribbon bought by Silvanna = 7.25m

Cost of 7.25m ribbon = P261.00

Cost per meter = P261.00 ÷ 7.25 = P26100 ÷ 725

Note: We move two decimal places to the right of 7.25m to become 725m to
get rid of the decimal point from the number we are dividing by. But remember
that we should do the same thing for P261.00. Now it will become P26,100.
Therefore, the cost of the ribbon per meter is P36.00

C. Solving Problems Involving Percent

4
 A percent word problem has three values: Base (B) or whole, Rate (R) or percent, and
Percentage (P) or part.

For example, if you got 40 correct answers on a 50-point exam, the base (B) is 50, the
percentage (P) is 40, and your grade (Rate (R)) would be:

40
= 0.80 = 80%. Change decimal to percent
50

Every percent problem contains three variables. They are the Base (B), the Rate (R) (Note that
the rate is always in percent form), and the Percentage (P). When you solve a percent problem, you are
given the values of two of the three variables and you are asked to find the value of the third variable.
The relationship of the three variables can be pictured in the triangle shown below.

Percent word problems can be solved by identifying what you need to find and selecting the correct
formula. In order to solve a percent problem:

1. Read the problem.

2. Identify the Base (B), Rate (R with %), and Percentage
(P). One of these will be unknown.
3. Select the correct formula.
4. Substitute the values in the formula and evaluate.
Example 1: On a test consisting of 60 questions, Balmond
received a grade of 85%. How many problems did the
student answer correctly?
Solution:
2. The base is 60 and the rate is 85%. The number of correct answers is the Percentage (P).
3. Since you need to find the percentage, use the formula P = R × B.
4. P=R×B
Change the rate from percent
= 85% × 60 to decimal before multiplying.

= 0.85 × 60.

= 51 Hence, the student got 51 problems correct.

GENERAL INSTRUCTION:
1. Read and follow instructions carefully.
2. NO ERASURES of any form.
3. COPY and ANSWER (show your solution) on a separate sheet of paper
4. Answer this activity with all HONESTY and INTEGRITY.

Let’s Apply

Exercise 1: Solve the following. Write your answers and solutions on a separate sheet. Simplify each
answer to its lowest term if possible.

5
 1 1 1
1. Hilda jogs 7 miles east, 2 miles south and 4 miles west. How far has she jogged?
3 4 6
1 1
2. If 5 ounce of cough syrup is used by Natalia from a 12 ounce bottle, how much is left?
2 4
2
3. Odette can make a costume out of 3 yards of material. If she has 68 yards of material, how many
5
costumes can she make?
2
4. Wanwan read of the book, which is 360 pages. How many pages are in the book?
3
5. Johnson has 45 feet of materials to make 3 banners for his friends, Claude, Dexter and Lancelot. If
2 2
he made 16 and 15 feet of materials, how much material is left for the third banner
3 5

Let’s Analyze
Use the table below to answer the following. Write your answers and solutions on a separate
sheet.
1. If Franco spent P2,475.00 for movie tickets, how many tickets
did he bought?

2. Samantha and Rene bought two movie tickets, two fries, two
soda and two burgers. How much should they pay for?

3. If Aurora, Alice, Vale and Valir bought four movie tickets and
four burgers, and gave P1,500.00, how much will their change be?

4. A barkada bundle, which includes 5 movie tickets, 5 popcorns, 5 sodas, 5 burgers, and 5 fries costs
P2,255.55. Is it economical for 5 people to try the barkada bundle? If yes, by how much? If no, by how
much?

Let’s Evaluate
Solve the following. Write your answers and solutions on a separate sheet. Simplify each answer to its
lowest term if possible (for fractions) and to the hundredths place if possible (for decimals and
percent). Box your final answer. Units are a must.

3
1. A square’s side measures 12 inches. What is the square’s perimeter? (Note: Square’s perimeter
4
is equal to four times of the value of its side)
1 1
2. During a commercial break, there are six -minute commercials and 8 -minute commercials. How
2 4
many minutes was the commercial break?
2 1
3. of the shirts sold at Jennie’s shop are striped, are printed, while the rest of the shirts are plain
5 4
colored shirts. If Jennie’s shop has 63 plain colored shirts, how many striped shirts are there? How
many printed shirts are there?
4. Fanny’s record for 100-meter dash was 1.48 seconds more than the school’s record. If Fanny’s record
was 13.25 seconds. What is the school’s record?
5. Kimmy worked from 7:00 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. with a 45-minute break. If Kimmy earns P120.00 per
hour and does not get paid for her breaks, how much will she earn?