Question

Mr. Smith has 15.6 pounds of oranges to pack for shipment. He can ship 2.4 pounds of oranges in a large box and 1.2 pounds in a small box. If he ships 5 large boxes, what is the minimum number of small boxes required to ship the rest of the oranges?

Answer 1

3 boxes.

Explanation:

Let x represent number of 1.2 pounds boxes.

We have been given that Mr. Smith has 15.6 pounds of oranges to pack for shipment. He can ship 2.4 pounds of oranges in a large box and 1.2 pounds in a small box.

The oranges covered in x small boxes would be
`1.2x`

Oranges packed in 5 large boxes would be
`5* 2.4\text{ pounds}=12\text{ pounds}`.

We can represent our given information in an equation as:

`1.2x+12=15.6`

`1.2x+12-12=15.6-12`

`1.2x=3.6`

`(1.2x)/(1.2)=(3.6)/(1.2)`

`x=3`

Therefore, the minimum number of small boxes required to ship the rest of the oranges would be 3 boxes.