An interior decorator bought 12 1/2 yards of material to make drapes. He used 8 2/3 yards on one pair of drapes. How much material does he have left?

Ok, so this is a subtraction problem with fractions. The first step is to write the equation you need to make.

12 1/2 - 8 2/3

Next would be to change the mixed fractions to improper fractions.

25/2 - 26/3

Now, we need to find a common denomintor, since we can't just subtract like it is now. The Lowest Common Denominator would be 6 because 2*3 = 6. So we need to multiply the numerator and the denominator of both fractions, so that they will have the same denominator.

3 (25/2) - 2 (26/3)

75/6 - 52/6

Now we just subtract the numerators and leave that new answer over the same denominator.

75/6 - 52/6 = 23/6

If it asks to simplify into fraction, we can put it as,

3 5/6

3.9 yards is the answer