A county is in the shape of a rectangle that is 60 miles by 70 miles and has a population of 50,000. What is the average number of people living on each square mile of the county? Round your answer to the nearest whole number.

192

10

14

12

The correct answer is:

12

Step-by-step explanation:

Length of county = 70 miles

breadth of county = 60 miles

area of county (rectangle) = Length * Breadth = 60 * 70 = 4,200 sqaure miles

population of county = 50,000

Therefore, to find the average number of people living on each square mile of the county, we will assume that the whole population is equally distributed in the county, hence the population per square mile is calculated thus:

Total area = 4,200 square miles

total population = 50,000

This means that:

4,200 square miles contains 50,000 people

4,200 sq. miles = 50,000 people

∴ 1 sq. mile = 50,000 : 4,200 = 11.9 = 12 people (to the nearest whole number)

therefore number of people living per square mile = 12