Question

Valeria is filling her new fish tank with water. The tank measures 36 inches by 13 inches by 24 inches. She has a 3-gallon bucket that she can fill at the sink and then pour into the tank. What is the minimum number of times Valeria needs to fill (or partially fill) the 3-gallon bucket in order to completely fill her fish tank? (Hint: There are 231 cubic inches in a gallon.) She needs to fill up the 3-gallon bucket at least __________ times in order to completely fill her tank.

Answer 1

1) You are told the conversion of cubic inches to gallons, but first you need to find the volume of the fish tank in cubic inches.

The equation for the volume of a rectangular prism (shape of the fish tank) is V = lwh, where V = volume, l = length of the base, w = width of the base, and h = height of the tank. You know the dimensions are 36 inches by 13 inches by 24 inches. Plug these numbers into the equation to find the volume:

`V = lwh\\ V = (36)(13)(24)\\ V = 11232 \:in^3`

2) You know the conversion from cubic increase to gallon is 231 cubic inches in 1 gallon. That means the three gallon bucket is 231*3 = 693 cubic inches. Divide 11232 by 693 and round up (since you're partially filling it up once) to find the number of times Valeria needs to fill the bucket:

`11232 / 693 = 16.21\: \rightarrow \:17`

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Answer: 17 times