Question

A trucking company is making two trips to a small town high up in the mountains. The first load will be medical supplies. The truck will then return down the mountain and be loaded with packages of food. The truck can't carry too heavy of a load or it will not make it over the mountain pass. Your job at the shipping company is to determine the amount of full boxes that can be loaded. This is the information you have:

The maximum amount of weight the truck can carry is 3,000 pounds. You know that 12.5 boxes of medical supplies weigh 325.5 pounds. You know that 12.5 packages of food weigh 260.75 pounds.

How many boxes of medical supplies can be loaded?
a) 16.4
b) 15.1
c) 14.8
d) 13.0

Answer 1

The number of boxes of medical supplies that can be loaded is 115 boxes.

Step-by-step explanation:

To determine the number of boxes of medical supplies that can be loaded on the truck, we need to find the maximum number of full boxes that will not exceed the truck's maximum weight capacity of 3,000 pounds. We know that 12.5 boxes of medical supplies weigh 325.5 pounds. To find the weight of 1 box, we divide the weight of 12.5 boxes by 12.5: 325.5 pounds / 12.5 = 26.04 pounds per box. Next, we divide the maximum weight capacity of the truck by the weight of 1 box: 3,000 pounds / 26.04 pounds per box = 115.17 boxes. Since we cannot have a fraction of a box, we round down to the nearest whole number. Therefore, the number of boxes of medical supplies that can be loaded is 115 boxes.