Solve this multi step problem. A household uses 1/4 of 15 pound bag of rice every 3 weeks. What is the change in the number of pounds of rice after 8 weeks?
In 1 week, the household uses 1/4 of the 15 pound bag of rice, which is 15/4 = <<1/4*15=3.75>>3.75 pounds of rice.
After 8 weeks, the household uses a total of 8 * 3.75 = <<8*3.75=30>>30 pounds of rice.
Therefore, there is a change of 30 - 15 = <<30-15=15>>15 pounds of rice after 8 weeks. Answer: \boxed{15}.
To solve this multi-step problem, we need to find the number of pounds of rice used after 8 weeks.
Step 1: Calculate the number of pounds of rice used every week.
Since the household uses 1/4 of a 15-pound bag of rice every 3 weeks, we can divide 15 pounds by 3:
15 pounds / 3 weeks = 5 pounds
Step 2: Calculate the number of pounds of rice used after 8 weeks.
Multiply the number of pounds used per week (5 pounds) by the number of weeks (8):
5 pounds/week * 8 weeks = 40 pounds
Therefore, the change in the number of pounds of rice after 8 weeks is a decrease of 40 pounds.
To solve this multi-step problem, we need to break it down into smaller parts. Let's go step by step:
Step 1: Determine the amount of rice used in 1 week.
Since we know that the household uses 1/4 of a 15-pound bag every 3 weeks, we need to find the amount of rice used in 1 week. To do this, we'll divide 1/4 by 3:
1/4 ÷ 3
To divide a fraction by a whole number, we can multiply the fraction by the reciprocal of the whole number. The reciprocal of 3 is 1/3. So, we have:
1/4 × 1/3
Multiplying the numerators gives us 1, and multiplying the denominators gives us 4 × 3 = 12. So, we have:
1/12
This means that the household uses 1/12 of a 15-pound bag of rice per week.
Step 2: Calculate the amount of rice used in 8 weeks.
To find the amount of rice used in 8 weeks, we'll multiply the amount used in 1 week by 8:
1/12 × 8
Multiplying the numerator by 8 gives us 8, and the denominator remains the same. So, we have:
8/12
We can simplify this fraction by dividing both the numerator and denominator by their greatest common divisor, which is 4. So, we get:
8/12 = 2/3
This means that the household will use 2/3 of a 15-pound bag of rice after 8 weeks.
Step 3: Determine the change in the number of pounds of rice.
To find the change in the number of pounds of rice, we subtract the amount used after 8 weeks from the initial 15-pound bag:
15 - 2/3
To subtract a fraction, we need a common denominator. The least common denominator of 3 and 1 is 3. So, we can rewrite 15 as a fraction with a denominator of 3:
15 = 15/1 = 45/3
Now we can subtract the fractions:
45/3 - 2/3 = 43/3
The result is a fraction, 43/3. This means that the change in the number of pounds of rice after 8 weeks is 43/3 pounds.