A plumber is laying pipe. His assistant digs a trench in roughly the shape of a rectangular solid measuring 150 ft. in length, 9 inches deep along both sides, and 12 inches wide at the top and bottom. How many cubic feet of earth did he remove (to the nearest tenth)?
Change inches to feet and multiply.
To find the volume of earth that the assistant removed, you need to calculate the volume of the rectangular solid-shaped trench.
First, convert the measurements to feet:
Length: 150 ft
Depth: 9 inches = 9/12 ft = 0.75 ft
Width: 12 inches = 12/12 ft = 1 ft
Next, calculate the volume of the rectangular solid using the formula:
Volume = Length × Width × Depth
Volume = 150 ft × 1 ft × 0.75 ft
Multiply the numbers to get the volume:
Volume = 112.5 cubic feet
Therefore, the assistant removed approximately 112.5 cubic feet of earth.