Real-Life Math
A toxicologist must always be mindful of safety regulations.
You are inspecting Horton Chemicals for safety infractions. In a three-hour investigation, you don't find anything wrong.
One of your men wants to inspect the empty waste containers in the trash holding bay out back. In doing so, he hopes to judge for himself the safety of Horton's garbage and recycling policy.
"Hey, I just want to be sure," he says to you. "Besides, I think the best measure of the health and safety of a plant is in its trash procedures. Don't worry, it'll only take an hour or so."
Under the safety regulations:
A container is empty if its contents have been removed by commonly employed practices such as pouring, pumping, or aspirating, and no more than 1 inch of residue remains on the bottom of the container or inner liner.
For containers less than or equal to 110 gallons in size, no more than 3 percent by weight of the total container capacity can remain. For containers greater than or equal to 110 gallons, no more than 0.3 percent by weight of the total container capacity can remain.
You've taken a 37-unit sample of Horton's empty waste containers, which are 500 gallons each. If the average amount of waste found in each container is 1.9 gallons, does the plant pass this little test or do they fail it? By how much?