Mrs. Thompson buys colored sand for the class art project. There are 31 students in her class, and each student needs 0.48 pounds of sand for the project. About how many pounds of colored sand must Mrs. Thompson buy?
31 x 0.48 = 14.88 (rounded to 15 pounds)
This can be approximated: 0.48 pounds is about 1/2 pound
1/2 of 31 students is 15.5 pounds; 15 would be enough, but buying 16 would allow for spilling.
