If 3 cats can catch 3 rats in 3 minutes, how many cats are needed to catch 60 rats in 1 hour?

60 cats

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To find out how many cats are needed to catch 60 rats in 1 hour, you can start by analyzing the given information. We know that 3 cats can catch 3 rats in 3 minutes.

Since there are three variables involved (cats, rats, and time), it's important to establish a ratio that relates these values.

From the given information, we can create the following ratio:
3 cats : 3 rats : 3 minutes

To calculate how many cats are needed to catch 60 rats, we want to find the ratio that relates cats to rats in terms of time. In this case, we are trying to find the number of cats needed in 1 hour.

To do this, we can set up a proportion:

3 rats / 3 minutes = 60 rats / 60 minutes

Simplifying this equation, we have:

1 rat / 1 minute = 60 rats / 60 minutes

So, 1 rat per minute is the rate at which a single cat can catch rats.

Therefore, we can conclude that in 1 hour (60 minutes), a single cat can catch 60 rats.

Hence, only one cat is needed to catch 60 rats in 1 hour.