SOLUTION: I first divided 17 into 341; but I wasn't sure if I was headed in the right direction. Any assistance you can provide will be most appreciative. My daughter got stumped on this one

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Question 171852: I first divided 17 into 341; but I wasn't sure if I was headed in the right direction. Any assistance you can provide will be most appreciative. My daughter got stumped on this one and I just do not seem to be much help to her.
Suppose coffee beans from 14 trees are required to produce 17 pounds of coffee, the amount of each person in the U.S. drinks each year. How many trees are required to produce 341 pounds of coffee?
Found 3 solutions by Alan3354, Earlsdon, jim_thompson5910:
Answer by Alan3354(69443) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Suppose coffee beans from 14 trees are required to produce 17 pounds of coffee, the amount of each person in the U.S. drinks each year. How many trees are required to produce 341 pounds of coffee?
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14 trees produce 17 pounds of coffee.
What each person in the US drinks has no bearing on the problem. Sometimes extraneous info is thrown to create confusion, just ignore it.
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14 trees produce 17 pounds.
1 tree produces 17/14 pounds, so 1 pound requires 14/17 of a tree.
341 pounds requires 341 times (14/17)
= 341*14/17
= 4774/17
= apx 280.82 trees
I'd say 281 trees, since 0.82 of a tree is hard to visualize.

Answer by Earlsdon(6294) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Ok, you are on the right track, dividing 341 lbs by 17 lbs
341%2F17+=+20.06 Now you would multiply this by 14 to get the number of trees required to produce 341 lbs of coffee beans.
20.06%2A14+=+280.84 But we can't have 0.84 of a tree so we'll round up to the nearest integer to get 281 trees.

Answer by jim_thompson5910(35256) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Let x=# of trees (which in this case would produce 341 lbs of coffee)

We have the following ratio: 


   # of Trees                # of Trees
----------------   =   ----------------- 
# of lbs of coffee        # of lbs of coffee


Which algebraically looks like

14%2F17=x%2F341






14%2F17=x%2F341 Start with the given ratio


%2814%2F17%29%2A341=x Multiply both sides by 341


4774%2F17=x Multiply


280.824=x Divide


x=280.824 Rearrange the equation.


Now round that answer up to get 281 (since you cannot have a fractional amount of trees)


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Answer:

So 281 trees are required to produce 341 lbs of coffee.