Final answer:
To find out how many mathematics textbooks can fit into 85 cm of shelf space, one must calculate the width of a single book and then divide the total shelf space by the width of one book, which results in 34 books.
Step-by-step explanation:
To answer the math mathematics textbook question, we first calculate the width taken up by a single book by dividing the total shelf space by the number of books. This gives us 60 cm ÷ 24 books = 2.5 cm per book. To determine how many books can fit into 85 cm of space, we divide the total available shelf space by the width of one book: 85 cm ÷ 2.5 cm/book = 34 books (since we cannot have a fraction of a book on our shelf).