To make things easier on ourselves, that's assign a "nice" value to the total volume of soup in the entire pot.
Let's say the pot contains 40 gallons of soup

So when the soup is divided equally into two bowls, EACH BOWL contains 20 gallons of soup

If Manuel ate \(\frac{1}{4}\) in one bowl, then the amount he ate = \(\frac{1}{4}\) of 20 gallons = 5 gallons

If Manuel ate \(\frac{2}{5}\) of the other bowl, then the amount he ate = \(\frac{2}{5}\) of 20 gallons = 8 gallons

So the TOTAL amount of soup eaten = 5 gallons + 8 gallons = 13 gallons


What fraction of the entire pot of soup did Manuel eat?
The fraction of soup eaten = 13/40

Answer: 13/40

Cheers,
Brent