Randy is starting a beehive so that he can have fresh honey. He decides to check the current population of bees in the hive by marking 160 bees. Later, Randy collects 240 bees and observes that 30 of them are marked. What is the BEST estimate for the bee population?

Question

Randy is starting a beehive so that he can have fresh honey. He decides to check the current population of bees in the hive by marking 160 bees. Later, Randy collects 240 bees and observes that 30 of them are marked. What is the BEST estimate for the bee population?

Responses
A 1,200
B 1,280
C 1,240
D 1,300

Answer 1

We can use a proportion to estimate the bee population:

Number of marked bees / Total number of bees = Number of previously marked bees / Total bee population
Plugging in the values we know:
30/240 = 160/x
Solving for x (the total bee population):
x = (240*160)/30
x = 1280
Therefore, the BEST estimate for the bee population is B) 1,280.