You have 6 pints of glaze. it takes 7/8 of a pint to glaze a bowl and 9/16 of a pint to glaze a plate. you want to glaze 5 bowls, and then use the rest for plates. how many plates can you glaze? how much glaze will be left over?

The answer is 2 plates and .50 glaze left over.

How did I get this?

First lets calculate how many bowls can we glaze. 
5 bowls * 7/8 of a pint = 4.375 pints
4.375 = how many glaze we will need to make 5 bowls.

6 pints - 4.375pints = 1.625 pints left over after we glaze the bowls. 

Now, we need to figure out how many plates we can make with 1.625 glaze.

P X 9/16 = 1.625
Multiply both sides by 16/9 to isolate the variable.
P = 1.625*16/9 
P = 2.88 plates

So, we can only glaze 2 plates. 

How many glaze is left over?
First, how many glaze did we have left over from the bowls? 1.625 glaze
Then, how many plates did we make? 2 at .5625 each = 1.125 glaze

1.625 - 1.125 = .50 glaze left over.

The answer is 2 plates and .50 glaze left over.