Today Steve is carrying his history textbook and his lunch in his backpack. If the history textbook weighs 3/8 of a pound and his lunch weighs 3/4 of a pound, how much weight is in Steve's backpack?

You have to convert 3/4 into eights if I understand the question. You multiply both 3 and 4 to get two which equals 6/8ths. Now you have 6/8 and and you add 3/8 which is 9/8ths. 9/8ths can be simplified to 1 and 1/8, which is your answer