Question

a box of matches measures 2.25inx.875inx.375in. a lawn is 165ftx310ft. how many match boxes would fit in the yard at 8 feet deep?

Answer 1

i tried taking to total area of the field and dividing it by the total area of the boxes but it game me a number that was not a choice

Answer 2

area of matchbox = 2.25 * 0.875 = 1.96875 sq ins
when you say 8 ft deep what exactly do you mean?

Answer 3

the match box is 2.25 inches long, .875 inches wide, and .375 inches high. the field is 165 feet long and 310 feet wide. how many boxes would it take to fill the field up to 8 feet deep with match boxes?

Answer 4

ok thanx
then you need volume of match box in cu ins, the volume of pile of matches in cu ins and divide first into second - that'll be a lot of boxes!!!

= 165 * 310* 8* 12*3 / 1.96785* 0.375

Answer 5

well the choices are
a)6.2x10^10
b)8.7x10^9
c)9.6x10^8
d)3.5x1^&10
e)2.9x10^11

Answer 6

i make it 9.6 x 10^8

Answer 7

958199862 to be exact

Answer 8

jimmyrep is correct... I didn't account for inches vs. feet

Answer 9

how did you get that?
165 * 310* 8* 12*3 / 1.96785* 0.375
why did you do *3?

Answer 10

converting cu ft to cu inches - 1 cu ft = 12x12x12 = 12^3 cu ins

Answer 11

oh alright i thought when you did LxWxH and the *12 it went from cuft to cuin

Answer 12

i doubt if that lot would be very stable - especially in a gale !!!!

Answer 13

no that just ft to ins

Answer 14

lol its just a chem question but it would be pretty cool to see

Answer 15

right

Answer 16

wait would it be 12*12*12? or 12^3?

Answer 17

lol nvm
dumb question

Answer 18

thats same thing 12^3 is a short way of saying 12x12x12
like 6^2 = 6x6

Answer 19

the number after ^ is called the power or the exponent

Answer 20

haha ok ty just its just been a long weekend for me

Answer 21

i know the feeling - none of us are computers

Answer 22

thats probably a good thing

Answer 23

The problem can be restated as follows:

How many match boxes, with the given dimension, can fit into a shipping container, measuring 165ft wide x 310ft long x 8 feet high?

This is not a trivial problem in the real world. Check out the paper at:
http://www.cs.nott.ac.uk/~sda/research/mipmodel.pdf