The cargo area of the deck of a barge is 60 ft wide. Cargo containers are 7 ft wide, and can be placed side-by-side with a gap of 6 in between them. How many containers may be placed side-by-side on the deck of the barge?

60 / 7.5 = ?

Right.

To determine the number of containers that can be placed side-by-side on the deck of the barge, we need to calculate the total width occupied by each container along with the gap between them.

The width of each container is 7 ft, and there is a gap of 6 in (which is equal to 0.5 ft) between them.

Adding these two widths together, we get the total width occupied by each container with the gap: 7 ft + 0.5 ft = 7.5 ft.

Now, divide the width of the cargo area of the deck of the barge (60 ft) by the width of each container with the gap (7.5 ft) to find the number of containers that can be placed side-by-side:

60 ft / 7.5 ft = 8 containers.

Therefore, you can place 8 containers side-by-side on the deck of the barge.