Question

Chickens that are not caged 24-hours a day are sometimes called “free-range” chickens. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) allows chickens to be called free-range as long as the chickens spend some of their time outside. The European Union (EU), however, has several additional restrictions. One of these is that the farmers must provide enough outside area so that if all the chickens were outside, the density of chickens would be no more than 0.20 chickens/sq meter

How many square meters does the EU require for 1200 chickens?
square meters

Answer 1

1m² is used per 0.2 chickens. Therefore, to calculate the area needed for 1200 chickens, you must multiply both sides of the fraction (1/0.2) so that the denominator becomes 1200. To find out what to multiply both sides by, divide 1200 by 0.2 and you get 6000. Now, multiplying both sides of the fraction by 6000 gives 6000/1200, so 6000 square metres is needed for 1200 chickens.