1. A box of oranges was found opened. The box can hold 12 oranges, but only 8 oranges were in the open box. What fraction of the oranges had been taken?



Answer :

Sure! Let's solve this step by step:

1. Understand the Box Capacity:
The box has a capacity to hold 12 oranges.

2. Determine the Number of Oranges in the Box:
The box currently contains 8 oranges.

3. Calculate the Number of Oranges Taken:
To find out how many oranges were taken from the box, we subtract the number of oranges currently in the box (8) from the total capacity of the box (12):
[tex]\[ \text{Oranges taken} = \text{Box capacity} - \text{Oranges in box} \][/tex]
Substituting the given numbers:
[tex]\[ \text{Oranges taken} = 12 - 8 = 4 \][/tex]

4. Determine the Fraction of Oranges Taken:
To find the fraction of oranges that have been taken, we divide the number of oranges taken by the total capacity of the box:
[tex]\[ \text{Fraction taken} = \frac{\text{Oranges taken}}{\text{Box capacity}} \][/tex]
Substituting the known values:
[tex]\[ \text{Fraction taken} = \frac{4}{12} \][/tex]

5. Simplify the Fraction:
We can simplify [tex]\(\frac{4}{12}\)[/tex] by dividing both the numerator and the denominator by their greatest common divisor, which is 4:
[tex]\[ \frac{4 \div 4}{12 \div 4} = \frac{1}{3} \][/tex]

Therefore, the fraction of oranges that had been taken from the box is [tex]\(\frac{1}{3}\)[/tex].

So on a decimal scale, this fraction is approximately 0.333 or 33.33%.