Ace competed in a race in which she swam 1/2 of a mile, ran 5 1/3 miles, and biked 9 1/6. How many miles was the race, in total?

15 miles

Need to find the least common denominator

1/2 + 5 1/3 + 9 1/6 = ?

The first step is to get the whole numbers out of the way and add the fractions first

1/2 + 1/3 + 1/6

To add the fractions they all need to have the same denominator and the least common denominator is 6 so ...

3/6 + 2/6 + 1/6 + = 6/6 or 1

and now you can add the other whole numbers to the product

1 + 5 + 9 = 15

The final answer is 15 miles