A baseball team played 32 games and lost 8 . Katy was the catcher in \( \frac{5}{8} \) of the winning games and \( \frac{1}{4} \) of the losing games. a. What fraction of the games did the team win?

The team played a total of 32 games and lost 8, which means they won \( 32 - 8 = 24 \) games. Therefore, the fraction of the games that the team won is \( \frac{24}{32} \), which simplifies to \( \frac{3}{4} \) after dividing both the numerator and the denominator by 8. So, the team won \( \frac{3}{4} \) of their games! Katy's participation in these games adds an interesting twist! If she caught in \( \frac{5}{8} \) of the winning games, that would be \( \frac{5}{8} \times 24 = 15 \) games. On the other hand, she caught in \( \frac{1}{4} \) of the losing games, which totals \( \frac{1}{4} \times 8 = 2 \) games. Overall, Katy was an essential player in 17 of the 32 games! Isn't that a significant contribution?