In a woodworking you are planing boards to make shelves. The planer is set to remove 1/16 inch from a board on each pass the board makes through the planer. If a board starts out at 3/4 inch thick, how many times will you need to send it through the planer to get it down to 5/8 inch?

Material removed per pass = 1/16 in

Initial thickness = 3/4 in

Final thickness = 5/8 in

If x is the number of passes,

The material removed = (1/16) x in.

Therefore,

3/4 - (1/16) x = 5/8

3/4 - x/16 = 5/8

x/16 = 3/4 - 5/8 = 1/8

x = 16*1/8 = 2

Therefore, the board will be passed through the plane twice.