(6) It snowed \( 5 \frac{1}{2} \) inches in January and \( 4 \frac{7}{8} \) inches in February. How many more inches did it snow in January than in February? Show your work.

To find out how many more inches it snowed in January than in February, we first need to convert both mixed numbers into improper fractions. For January: \( 5 \frac{1}{2} = \frac{11}{2} \) (since \( 5 \times 2 + 1 = 11 \)) For February: \( 4 \frac{7}{8} = \frac{39}{8} \) (since \( 4 \times 8 + 7 = 39 \)) Next, we need a common denominator to subtract these fractions. The least common denominator of 2 and 8 is 8. Now, we convert \( \frac{11}{2} \) to have a denominator of 8: \( \frac{11}{2} = \frac{11 \times 4}{2 \times 4} = \frac{44}{8} \) Now we can subtract: \( \frac{44}{8} - \frac{39}{8} = \frac{44 - 39}{8} = \frac{5}{8} \) So, it snowed \( \frac{5}{8} \) inches more in January than in February. What a snowy comparison! To paraphrase, if you were building a snowman, you'd want to have a sturdy base, and that extra \( \frac{5}{8} \) inches could help make it just a tad taller!