Question

A school group is helping plant a new city garden. Today they used 12 1/2 pounds of potting soil and planted 2/5 of the garden. How much more potting soil will they need to finish tomorrow?

Answer 1

`18(3)/(4)` pounds.

Explanation:

Let x be the total amount of potting soil needed to complete the planting in new garden.

We are told that a school group is helping plant a new city garden. Today they used 12 1/2 pounds of potting soil and planted 2/5 of the garden. This means 2/5 of x equals to 12 1/2.

`(2)/(5) x=12(1)/(2)`

`(2)/(5) x=(25)/(2)`

`x=(25)/(2)*(5)/(2)`

`x=(125)/(4)`

To find the amount of soil needed for the next of planting we will subtract the amount of potting soil used on the first day
`((25)/(2))` from amount of total potting soil
`((125)/(4))`.

`\text{Amount of potting soil needed for second day}=(125)/(4)-(25)/(2)`

`\text{Amount of potting soil needed for second day}=(125)/(4)-(25* 2)/(2*2)`

`\text{Amount of potting soil needed for second day}=(125)/(4)-(50)/(4)`

`\text{Amount of potting soil needed for second day}=(75)/(4)`

`\text{Amount of potting soil needed for second day}=(75)/(4)=18(3)/(4)`

Therefore, the group will need
`18(3)/(4)` pounds of potting soil to finish their work.