Once a month, volunteers from the Green Sea Club clean up litter at the beach. Last month, the volunteers picked up 8 pounds of trash in 4 hours. This month, the same group of volunteers will spend 3 hours picking up trash.

Question

If they pick up trash at the same rate, how many pounds of trash should the volunteers pick up this month?

Answer 1

To find out how many pounds of trash the volunteers will pick up this month, we first need to determine the rate at which they picked up trash last month.

Last month, the volunteers picked up 8 pounds of trash in 4 hours. To find the rate in pounds per hour, we can use the following formula:

\[ \text{Rate} = \frac{\text{Total pounds of trash}}{\text{Total hours spent}} = \frac{8 \text{ pounds}}{4 \text{ hours}} = 2 \text{ pounds per hour} \]

Now, we know that the volunteers will be working for 3 hours this month. To find the total amount of trash they can pick up this month at the same rate, we multiply the rate by the number of hours they will work:

\[ \text{Pounds of trash this month} = \text{Rate} \times \text{Hours worked} = 2 \text{ pounds per hour} \times 3 \text{ hours} = 6 \text{ pounds} \]

Therefore, the volunteers should pick up 6 pounds of trash this month.