Question

How many classrooms would be necessary to hold 1,000,000 inflated balloons? (Assume one balloon is about 1 ft3 and a typical classroom is about 35 ft × 50 ft × 15 ft. Round your answer to the nearest number of classrooms.)

Answer 1

38 classrooms (to the nearest whole number)

One balloon = 1 cube ft. Using this value and multiplying it by 1,000,000, we can find how much space all of these would take up. Since 1 times anything is just the unchanged value,
• a million inflated balloons = 1000000 ft^3.

The classroom has dimensions 35, 50, and 15 ft. We can use these values to find the classroom’s volume. The equation for Volume of a rectangular prism: V = lwh, where l is length, w is width, and h is height. Substitute given dimensions into this equation:
• V = 35*50*15 = 26250 ft^3.

now, what times 26250 will equal 1000000? Well, let’s set up an equation and solve for x, the number of classrooms.
• 26,250x = 1,000,000. Divide both sides by 26250 to get x alone:
• x = 38.0952.

Approximately 38 classrooms are necessary to hold 1,000,000 inflated balloons.

Check: when x is 38: 26,250(38) = 997,500 ft^3. When x is 39: 26,250(38) = 1,023,750 ft^3. x = 38 is more accurate.
**(I will note, however, that I’m not sure if you’re instructed to round according to the decimal rules or round UP a whole number because that extra .0952 needs to be included).