Question

Your height is \[5\] feet and \[1\dfrac{5}{8}\] inches. Your friend’s height is \[5.6\] feet. Who is taller?

Answer 1

Hint: To know who is taller we will compare the height of both. We can see that the heights given are in different units. So, we will first convert them to the same units and then compare them. We will convert \[5\] feet and \[1\dfrac{5}{8}\] inches into feet. One foot is equal to twelve inches i.e., \[1{\text{ ft}} = 12{\text{ in}}\].

Complete step by step answer:
We can see that one of the heights is given in feet and inches whereas, the other height is given only in feet. So, we will convert the first height into feet only.
We can write, \[1\dfrac{5}{8} = \dfrac{{13}}{8}\]
So, \[5\] feet and \[1\dfrac{5}{8}\] inches \[ = 5{\text{ ft and }}\dfrac{{13}}{8}{\text{ in}}\]
Now we will convert inches to feet. We have;
\[12{\text{ in = 1 ft}}\]
So, by unitary method,
\[ \Rightarrow \dfrac{{13}}{8}{\text{ in = }}\dfrac{{\left( {\dfrac{{13}}{8}} \right)}}{{12}}{\text{ ft}}\]
Calculating we get;
\[ \Rightarrow \dfrac{{13}}{8}{\text{ in = 0}}{\text{.1354 ft}}\]
So, we get;
\[ \Rightarrow 5{\text{ ft 1}}\dfrac{5}{8}{\text{ in = 5 ft + 0}}{\text{.1354 ft}}\]
Adding we get;
\[ \Rightarrow 5{\text{ ft 1}}\dfrac{5}{8}{\text{ in = 5}}{\text{.1354 ft}}\]
Now this is in feet only and the other one is also in feet. So, now we can compare both of them.
We know,
\[5.6{\text{ ft > 5}}{\text{.1354 ft}}\]
So, my friend is taller than me.

Note:
One most important point to note here is that before comparing we need to convert all the terms in the same unit. This is for all the situations where we need to compare and not only for this case. For example, if we want to check whether \[125\] paise is more or one rupee is more. Then, we will have to convert both of them into the same unit. Either we can convert paise to rupee or rupee to paise. We can also solve the given question by changing both the heights into inches and then comparing.