Question

Marianne buys 16 bags of potting soil which come in 5/8 pound bags. This equals to 10 pounds of potting soil. Her father calls and says he needs 13 pounds of potting soil, how many additional bags should Marianne buy ?

Answer 1

5 bags

Explanation:

Given Marianne buys 16 bags of potting soil which come in 5/8 pound bags

The above provides 10pounds of potting soil already

Now her father says he needs 13 pounds So Marianne should get an extra of 13 - 10 =3 pounds of potting soil

We know that 1 bag contains 5/8 pounds of potting soil

x bags contain 3 pounds of potting soil

On cross multiplication we get

`(5x)/(8)=3`

x =
`(24)/(5)`

since x is an integer x = 5 bags

Note that an extra amount of soil will be remained unused