You have a 3/2-foot fence around a square garden. there are 4 equal sections. you paint 1/3 of one section of the fence. what fraction of the fence did you paint?

First, you need the perimeter:

4 equal sections means
(3/2) = 4x where x is the length of one section

Find x:
(3/2) / 4=x

Simplify:
3/8 = x

Now that you know one section of the fence, you need to multiply that by 1/3

(3/8) * (1/3) = 1/8

So now you know 1/8 feet is painted on that one section of the fence

Then consider it being a part of the WHOLE fence:
3/2 * 1/8 = 3/16

So 3/16 of the whole fence was painted!

Hope this helps