A mulch layer 2 inches thick is to be spread over a bed of landscape plants.
If the bed measures 8ft x 20ft, how many bags of mulch must you buy? Each bag contains 3 cubic feet of mulch.
Mulch volume needed = 8 x 20 x (1/6) ft^3 = 26.67 ft^3
At 3 ft^3 per bag, that is 9 bags, with a little left over.
V = 8 * 20 * 1/6
V = 26.7 cubic feet
26.7 / 3 = ?
To find out how many bags of mulch you need, you first need to calculate the volume of the mulch required for the bed.
Step 1: Find the area of the bed.
The area of the bed is given as 8 ft x 20 ft, which equals 160 square feet.
Step 2: Convert the area to square inches.
Since the mulch is measured in cubic feet, you need to convert the area to square inches to match the unit. Since 1 square foot is equal to 144 square inches, multiply the area by 144:
160 sq ft x 144 sq in/sq ft = 23,040 sq in.
Step 3: Calculate the volume of mulch needed.
The volume of mulch needed can be obtained by multiplying the area by the desired thickness of the mulch layer. In this case, the thickness is given as 2 inches:
23,040 sq in x 2 in = 46,080 cubic inches.
Step 4: Convert the volume to cubic feet.
Since each bag of mulch contains 3 cubic feet, divide the volume in cubic inches by the number of cubic inches in a cubic foot (12 x 12 x 12 = 1,728):
46,080 cu in ÷ 1,728 cu in/cu ft = 26.67 cubic feet.
Step 5: Calculate the number of bags of mulch needed.
To get the number of bags of mulch, divide the total volume needed (in cubic feet) by the volume of each bag (3 cubic feet):
26.67 cu ft ÷ 3 cu ft/bag ≈ 8.89 bags.
Since you can't buy a fraction of a bag, round up to the nearest whole number. Therefore, you would need to buy 9 bags of mulch.