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Real-Life Activities

Real-Life Math

You are going to spray your fruit trees this morning with a non-toxic fungicide. You will spray your apricot and apple orchards. Even though the chemicals are non-toxic, you must make sure to measure the doses correctly.

"Being able to understand math is really important," says Cheryl Siemens, an orchardist. "Orchardists have to mix together chemicals to put on the trees. The ratios for the sprays have to be accurate.

"If it says you need so many grams of chemical in a litre of water, you had better make sure you calculate it right," she adds.

The back of the package says that you should add 0.5 ounces of CHEMX to every 2 gallons of water, if you are going to spray apples, and you should add 1.5 ounces of CHEMX to every 1.5 gallons of water to spray on apricots.

1. If you are planning to spray 30 gallons of water on the apple crop, how many ounces of CHEMX will you need to add?

2.You will spray the remaining 45 ounces of CHEMX on the apricot crop. How many gallons of water will you need to mix with this amount of chemical?