How many 120-foot lengths of wire can be cut from five 500-foot reels?

To determine how many 120-foot lengths of wire can be cut from five 500-foot reels, first, calculate the total length of wire available. Since each reel contains 500 feet, five reels will provide a total of 5 times 500 feet, which equals 2500 feet.

Next, to find out how many 120-foot sections can be obtained from 2500 feet, divide the total length of the wire by the length of each section. This is done by performing the division:

2500 feet ÷ 120 feet = 20.83

Since you can only have whole lengths of wire, you would take the whole number part of the division, which is 20.

This calculation shows that you can cut a total of 20 complete 120-foot lengths from five 500-foot reels of wire. Therefore, the answer aligns perfectly with the calculation showing that 20 is the maximum number of complete sections that can be cut.