On a map, two cities are 5 and 3/4 inches apart. the scale of the map is 1/2 inch = 3 miles. what is the actual distance between the towns?

You know that 1 inch is 6 miles and 1/4 inch is 1.5 miles. So 6 * 5 = 30, and 1.5 * 3 = 4.5. Now you need to add 30 + 4.5 and that equals 34.5. The actual distance between the two towns is 34.5 miles.