Traveling on the Pennsylvania Turnpike - Part 1

Mr. Billett and I have been traveling in Pennsylvania this month. One place we visited was a famous house designed by Frank Loyd Wright. The house is called Falling Water, because it was built over a creek and waterfall. The house was spectacular.

Before we visited the house, we were staying with Mr. Billett senior, near the city of Reading in Pennsylvania. To have enough time to visit Falling Water and the neighboring area, we spent a couple nights in the town of Somerset. We also visited the city of Pittsburgh on a rainy day.

Pennsylvania's main highway is the Pennsylvania Turnpike. It is a toll road, and not very scenic. On the way there we took smaller, more interesting roads, but on the way home we decided to save time, and take the Turnpike. The toll on the pike is proportional to the distance you travel on it. Each exit is numbered according to its distance from the Western end of the turnpike. (see picture below, click to enlarge it.)

From Pittsburgh (mile 57) to Somerset (mile 110) we paid $3.00 for the toll. The next day we were traveling from Somerset (mile 110) to Reading (mile 286). Your job: figure out about how much the toll would be for that distance.

Rainfall

Lately there have been a lot of talk about Hurricanes wrecking the coastal regions of the US. The latest one on the news is Hurricane Ike. One statistic that I heard about this hurricane was that here in Los Angeles we have had 0.16 inches of rainfall from March 2008 to September 2008, while Hurricane Ike produced 15.75 inches of rain in just a few days in Houston, Texas.

Below are the graphs that show the average precipitation for the two cities from The Weather Channel Click on the image to enlarge it and see the numbers clearer.
Your job is to answer the following questions:

1. About how many years of average Los Angeles precipitation would equal the rainfall produced by Ike in Houston?
2. About how many months of average Houston precipitation would equal the rainfall produced by Ike?

Remember to explain how you found the answers to the questions.

Rosario's Dilemma

The following problem was submitted by Rosario.

Today my dad bought a box of chocolates. It contained 48 pieces. If they shared the 48 pieces equally, each of my household members (not including me) would have gotten 9.6 bars. But I want some too. :)

I need your help to figure out exactly how many bars each person should get. And how many people there are in total.

Huntington Park's Population

I was recently browsing the official website of the City of Huntington Park, home of Gage Middle School, and I stumbled upon some demographic information that got me thinking.
According to the site:

• Total population of HP: 61,348
• Hispanic population: 58, 636
• Registered voters: 13,137

These numbers made me wonder about percentages and languages. Your task is to answer the following questions:

1. What percentage of the residents of Huntington Park are Hispanic?
2. What percentage of the residents of Huntington Park are registered to vote?
3. Do you think the large number of Hispanics living in the city means that the city's website should be bilingual? (see poll on the right)
   

Email me the answers to the first 2 questions. To answer the third, you can respond to the poll on the right.

HINT: To figure out the percents, start by figuring out the fraction (how many Hispanic out of how many total, and how many registered to vote out of how many total) then turn the fraction into a decimal, then a percent. You can use a calculator if you prefer.

Brandon's Dilemma

One of my friends and neighbors, Brandon, recently added raised beds to his backyard.  He plans to use them to grow vegetables for his family.  He built the beds and was getting ready to fill them with soil when he came to us for advice.  Here is his dilemma:

He has two raised beds, each measuring 10 feet by 10 feet, and they are 6 inches deep.  The soil he wants to fill them with is sold in cubic yards.  He asked us to help him figure out how many cubic yards of soil he should get.  Can you help out?

Here are a couple of hints for figuring out the answer:

1. Convert all measurements into yards. How? Here is some information that may help you:  1 yard = 3 feet, 1 foot = 12 inches, 1 yard = 36 inches
2. Calculate the volume of one bed in cubic yards, then double the answer, since there are two beds.

The next question is, how much will he pay for all that soil if one cubic yard costs #20?

Good luck, and I am looking forward to your emails with answers and explanations. :)