A pile of newspapers in Ms. McGrath's art class was 17 3/4 inches high. Each consecutive week, for the next 5 weeks, the height of the pile of newspapers increased by 8 7/12 inches. What was the height, in inches, of the pile after 3 weeks?

If you would like to know what was the height, in inches, of the pile after 3 weeks, you can calculate this using the following steps:

17 3/4 inches + 3 * 8 7/12 inches = 71/4 + 3 * 103/12 = 213/12 + 309/12 = 522/12 = 87/2 = 43 1/2 inches

The correct result would be 43 1/2 inches.