Question

You've just been hired by the Illinois athletic department to fertilize their field before winter. In order to determine how much money you're going to make on the job, you must first determine how much money it will cost you in materials. You must fertilize this football field with weed/feed. The dimensions of the field are 360 feet by 160 feet including the end zones. GreenThumb Weed & Feed will cover 5000 square feet and costs $9.99 per bag.

How many bags will you need and how much will the job cost? (please show/explain your work)

Answer 1

1) It takes 12 bags (360x160 = 57600/2 = 11.52) and costs $119.88 (12x9.99)

2) Sure, if you only want $180.12 in compensation

3) Time, mostly - covering that many feet wouldn't be a quick job

4) Add $40 to your cost (and get $159.88) and then subtract that from the original $300 (and get $140.12) and divide that by five (and get $28.024/hour)

Answer 2

The first step is to find out the area of the field.
The field is shaped like a rectangle, 360 feet long and 160 feet wide.
What is the area of the field?

Answer 3

area of the field is 1040? @mathstudent55

Answer 4

No. 1040 ft is the perimeter.
You add the lengths and the widths to find the perimeter.
360 + 360 + 160 + 160 = 1040 ft
That is the perimeter.

Here you need the area.
The area of a rectangle is the length times the width.
A = LW
A = 360 ft * 160 ft
What do you get for the area?

Answer 5

57600

Answer 6

Great. The area of the field is 57,600 ft^2.
A bag of weed & feed covers 5,000 square feet.
How many bags will it take to cover 57,600 square feet?
To find that, you divide.
57,600/5,000
How many bags is that?

Answer 7

11.52 so it would be 12 bags

Answer 8

Correct.
You can't buy 0.52 bag, so this is a case where you must round off the number up.
Even if you had gotten an answer of 11.2 bags, it would still have to be 12 bags.

Answer 9

Ok, you need 12 bags.
Each bag costs $9.99
What do 12 bags cost?
Here we multiply.
What is 12 * $9.99 ?

Answer 10

119.88

Answer 11

Correct.
It will cost $119.88 to buy the amount of weed & feed needed to do the job.

Answer 12

thank you

Answer 13

Are there other parts to this problem?

Answer 14

yes there is 4 more questions @mathstudent55

Answer 15

If you post them, I'll try to help.

Answer 16

The athletic department has $300 in their budget for this job. Is that enough money to warrant taking the job?

What other costs must you consider before you decide to take the job?

If the job takes you 5 hours to complete and you have to purchase a broadcast spreader from Home Depot for $40.00, how much money will you be making per hour?

Would you take the job? Explain.
@mathstudent55

Answer 17

Ok. You will be paid $300.
Your expense is $119.88.
If you subtract $119.88 from $300, you find out how much money you actually earn.
$300 - $119.88 = $180.12
You will earn $180.12

Answer 18

You need to decide if earning $180.12 is acceptable.

Answer 19

The next question is what other costs you need to consider.
There may be some kind of feed spreader that you may need to buy or rent if you don't have one. That will cost you some money. If you already have one, then this is not an expense. You need gas money to drive to the supply store to buy the feed & weed, and to drive to the field to do the job.

Answer 20

oh okay i get those two questions now that you put them that way

Answer 21

If the job takes 5 hours & you need to buy the feeder.
Then your expenses are the feed & weed ($119.88) and the feeder ($40.00).
Add the expenses together: $119.88 + $40 = $159.88
Subtract the expenses from your pay: $300 - $159.88 = $140.12
You earn a total of $140.12
You worked for 5 hours, so you earned $140.12/5 = 28.02 dollars per hour

Answer 22

Last question: would you take the job?
Do you think that $28/hour is a good salary?
If you do, and you want to earn some money, then you should.
If you don't, then you shouldn't.
You need to decide.

Answer 23

thanks for your help

Answer 24

You're welcome.