Math Word Problem Involving Fractions

[Rylan]

Please help me to solve this problem. If a class has 158 students and 1/11 of them are girls and 1/7 are boys, then how many boys and girls are in the class altogether?

 

[stapel]

Please help me to solve this problem. If a class has 158 students and 1/11 of them are girls and 1/7 are boys, then how many boys and girls are in the class altogether?

Unless there are other sorts of "persons" in the class, all must be boys or girls. Unless you're allowed to deal with fractional persons (which would be messy), the given values are nonsensical.

Please consult with your instructor. Either there is missing information, a typo, or some other error; or else this is not solvable. :shock:

 

[HallsofIvy]

Please help me to solve this problem. If a class has 158 students and 1/11 of them are girls and 1/7 are boys, then how many boys and girls are in the class altogether?

1/11 of 158 is 158/11= 14.3636... and 1/7 of 158 is 158/7= 22.57142857... So there are 36.935... boys and girls.

Now, what do fractional boys and girls mean and what are the other 121.06... students? Please check the problem again- this makes no sense at all!