Blog Math

Everyone except for two students submitted this week's blog math question on time.  No one arrived at the correct answer, however.  Some students arrived at an answer that was close.  Let me explain.

The cost of the balloons was 3/$2.  Many students divided to arrive at a unit rate. $2 divided by 3 = 0.666666666666666.  When rounded to the nearest hundredth, the quotient is $0.67.  Once a unit rate was decided on, students multiplied that by 26 balloons for a grand total of $17.42. Students that worked it out that way earned one good news ticket.

That is not the best answer, however.

If a store sells 3 balloons for $2, that means that every group of 3 balloons costs $2.  Since 26 balloons are needed, that means that 8 groups of 3 balloons are needed, plus 2 more.  8 x $2 = $16.  Twenty-four balloons cost $16.  Since 2 divided by 3 = $0.67, two balloons would cost $1.34.  The grand total for 26 balloons is $16 + 1.34 = $17.34.  Check your grocery receipt the next time you shop to see that this is the way the cost is calculated in these types of situations.

Here is this week's question.  Please copy it on a lined piece of binder paper, complete it using the steps of problem solving, and submit it on or before Tuesday April 5 at 8:10 AM.  Please place it in the IN BOX.

A box of cereal contains 8 servings and has a total of 36 grams of fat.  Find the unit rate of grams of fat per serving.  Justify your thinking.