Question

Mr. Smith has 15.6 pounds of oranges to pack for shipment. He can ship 2.4 pounds of oranges in a large box and 1.2 pounds in a small box. If he ships 5 large boxes, what is the minimum number of small boxes required to ship the rest of the oranges?

Answer 1

Answer:

3 boxes.

Step-by-step explanation:

Let x represent number of 1.2 pounds boxes.

We have been given that Mr. Smith has 15.6 pounds of oranges to pack for shipment. He can ship 2.4 pounds of oranges in a large box and 1.2 pounds in a small box.

The oranges covered in x small boxes would be $1.2x$    

Oranges packed in 5 large boxes would be $5\times 2.4\text{ pounds}=12\text{ pounds}$.

We can represent our given information in an equation as:

$1.2x+12=15.6$  

$1.2x+12-12=15.6-12$  

$1.2x=3.6$  

$\frac{1.2x}{1.2}=\frac{3.6}{1.2}$  

$x=3$  

Therefore, the minimum number of small boxes required to ship the rest of the oranges would be 3 boxes.