Question

A mail carrier can deliver mail to 36 houses in 30 minutes. Mark wants to determine how many houses the carrier can deliver mail to in 7.5 minutes at this rate. He thinks that to find the answer, he should do the following. 1. First divide 36 houses by 30 minutes to find a unit rate of 1.2 houses per minute. 2. Then multiply 1.2 houses per minute by 7.5 minutes to get 9 houses. Which statement is correct? Mark’s method is wrong, because it is impossible to deliver mail to 1.2 houses in a minute. The carrier can only deliver to a whole number of houses. Mark’s method is wrong, because it is impossible to deliver mail for 7.5 minutes. The carrier can only deliver mail for a whole number of minutes. Mark’s method is correct, because even though it is impossible to deliver mail to 1.2 houses in a minute, 1.2 represents the unit rate of houses per minute. Mark’s method is correct, because it is possible to deliver mail for 7.5 minutes; 7.5 represents the unit rate of 7.5 minutes per house.

Answer 1

Mark’s method is correct, because even though it is impossible to deliver mail to 1.2 houses in a minute, 1.2 represents the unit rate of houses per minute.

Explanation:

Answer 2

Mark’s method is correct, because even though it is impossible to deliver mail to 1.2 houses in a minute, 1.2 represents the unit rate of houses per minute.

Explanation:

Let's rule out the options given one by one.

Option 1: Mark’s method is wrong, because it is impossible to deliver mail to 1.2 houses in a minute. The carrier can only deliver to a whole number of houses.

This is not true, because 1.2 is a rate, it just means that the carrier can finish 1 house in a minute, and also have time to get started delivering to the second house. The total number of houses has to be a whole number, but the rate doesn't.

Option 2: Mark’s method is wrong, because it is impossible to deliver mail for 7.5 minutes. The carrier can only deliver mail for a whole number of minutes.

This option is also incorrect. Delivering mail for 7.5 minutes just means 7 minutes and 30 seconds, which is definitely possible.

Option 3: Mark’s method is correct, because even though it is impossible to deliver mail to 1.2 houses in a minute, 1.2 represents the unit rate of houses per minute.

This option is correct. 1.2 is the rate of which the carrier delivers mail.

Option 4: Mark’s method is correct, because it is possible to deliver mail for 7.5 minutes; 7.5 represents the unit rate of 7.5 minutes per house.

This option is also incorrect. Although it is possible to deliver mail for 7.5 minutes, it is not the unit rate, it is the total amount of time it would take.