Shyla's research shows that 8 empty cans make 1/4 pound of aluminum. Shyla wants to know how many cans it takes to make 5 pounds of aluminum.

Question

How many cans are there per pound of aluminum?
__ can(s) per pound of aluminum

At this rate, how many cans make 5 pounds of aluminun?

Answer 1

To determine how many cans are there per pound of aluminum, we can use the information provided that 8 empty cans make 1/4 pound of aluminum.

First, we calculate how many cans are needed to make 1 pound of aluminum:

1. Since 8 cans make 1/4 pound, we can scale this up to find out how many cans are needed for 1 pound.
2. We know that 1 pound is 4 times 1/4 pound, so we multiply the number of cans by 4: \[ 8 \text{ cans} \times 4 = 32 \text{ cans} \]

Thus, there are 32 cans per pound of aluminum.

Next, to find out how many cans are needed to make 5 pounds of aluminum:

3. We multiply the number of cans per pound by the number of pounds: \[ 32 \text{ cans/pound} \times 5 \text{ pounds} = 160 \text{ cans} \]

Therefore, it takes 160 cans to make 5 pounds of aluminum.