Final answer:
To find the amount of grass seed needed, calculate the area of the rectangular backyard with a length of 68 feet and a width of 40 1/2 feet. Multiply the length and width to get the area. Then, calculate 75% of the area to determine how much grass seed the owner wants to plant. Convert the square feet to pounds using the planting rate of 1.5 pounds per 1000 square feet.
Step-by-step explanation:
To find the amount of grass seed needed, we first need to find the area of the rectangular backyard. The area of a rectangle is found by multiplying its length by its width. In this case, the length is 68 feet and the width is 40 1/2 feet. To find the area, we can convert the width to a decimal by adding the whole number part (40) to the decimal part (1/2). So, the width is 40.5 feet. Now we can calculate the area: 68 feet x 40.5 feet = 2754 square feet.
Next, we need to calculate 75% of the area to determine how much grass seed the owner wants to plant. To find 75%, we multiply the area by 0.75: 2754 square feet x 0.75 = 2065.5 square feet.
Finally, we need to convert the square feet to pounds of grass seed using the planting rate. The planting rate is 1.5 pounds per 1000 square feet. To convert 2065.5 square feet to pounds, we can set up a proportion: 1.5 pounds / 1000 square feet = x pounds / 2065.5 square feet. Solving for x, we find that the owner will need approximately 3.1 pounds of grass seed.