Question

Need help with this problem:

Natalie is buying cat food to store in a bin that holds 30 cups of dry cat food. The store has bags of cat food that comes in different sizes. A small bag of food contains 8 1/4 cups of food. A medium bag holds 12 3/4 cups of food. A large bag holds 20 7/8 cups of food. Natalie buys multiply bags of the same size. Without calculating the exact amount determine how many bags Natalie should buy to get close to filling the bin as she can without going over 30 cups of food.

Answer 1

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Answer:

2 medium bags

Explanation:

Using estimates of 8, 12, and 20 for the number of cups in each bag size, you can see that the number of each size needed is ...

floor(30/8) = 3 . . . small bags

floor(30/12) = 2 . . . medium bags

floor(30/20) = 1 . . . large bag

3 small bags will contain 3(8 1/4) = 24 3/4 cups.

2 medium bags will contain 2(12 3/4) = 24 3/2 = 25 1/4 cups

1 large bag will contain 20 7/8 cups.

The closest Natalie can get without exceeding the container size is with purchase of 2 medium bags.

_____

Additional comment

The best solution would be to purchase 1 small and 1 large bag, for a total of ...

8 1/4 +20 7/8 = 28 9/8 = 29 1/8 . . . cups

However, that purchase is not multiple bags of the same size.