Michael needs 6 1/2 feet of metal flashing to complete a household project. He has two small pieces measuring 3 1/8 feet and 1 3/4 feet. How many feet of metal flashing does Michael need to purchase?

Michael needs to purchase 1 5/8 feet more of metal flashing.

Step-by-step explanation:

To have the same denominator in both fractions, you can multiply 4 by 2. This will turn out to be 8, resulting in 8 being our common denominator. To achieve this, multiply:

7   x   2   =   14   or   1  6/8

4        2        8

We next add both fractions together, resulting in:

3 1/8 + 1 6/8 = 4 7/8

The fraction 6 1/2 can also be expressed as 6 4/8, so to find out how much metal Michael still needs to purchase, subtract 4 7/8 from 6 4/8.