If the mother drives 8 1/5 miles to work each day, it means she also drives 8 1/5 miles back home.
Total distance driven by Ian's mother = \(8 \frac{1}{5} + 8 \frac{1}{5} = 16 \frac{2}{5}\)
To find the how much further Ian's mother had driven than Ian's father, subtract the two numbers:
\(16 \frac{2}{5} - 9 \frac{1}{2}
= 16 \frac{4}{10} - 9 \frac{5}{10}
= 15 \frac{14}{10} - 9 \frac{5}{10}
= 6 \frac{9}{10}\)
What you need to do here with fractions is to change the denominator to be the same so that you can deduct the numbers properly.
