Question

A gardener wants to try different combinations of fertilizer (none, 1 cup, 2 cups) and mulch (none, wood chips, pine needles, plastic) to determine which combination produces the highest yield for a variety of green beans. He has 60 green-bean plants to use in the experiment. If he wants an equal number of plants to be assigned to each treatment, how many plants will be assigned to each treatment?

Answer 1

Answer:

5

Step-by-step explanation:

First lets identify the number of treatments possible.

1st possibility: no fertilizer, no mulch

2nd possibility: no fertilizer, wood chips

3rd possibility: no fertilizer, pine needles

4th possibility: no fertilizer, plastic

5th possibility: 1 cup fertilizer, no mulch

6th possibility: 1 cup fertilizer, wood chips

7th possibility: 1 cup fertilizer, pine chips

8th possibility: 1 cup fertilizer, plastic

9th possibility: 2 cup fertilizer, no mulch

10th possibility: 2 cup fertilizer, wood chips

11th possibility: 2 cup fertilizer, pine chips

12th possibility: 2 cup fertilizer, plastic

Or we can simply calculate no. of possibilities by elements in set a x elements in set b

Total no. of possibilities = 3 x 4 = 12

To find no. of plants for each treatment divide total number of plants by the total treatments possible.

No. of plants for each treatment = total number of plants/ total number of treatments possible

No. Of plants for each treatment = 60/12

No. of plants for each treatment = 5