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RateStructured · 4 marks

At 8.00 a.m., a filling machine at Mrs Lim's drink stall began filling empty bottles. It fills 240 bottles per hour. After every 2 hours of filling, it stops for 15 minutes to clean the nozzle. Mrs Lim needs 1 080 bottles filled.

  1. How much time does the machine spend actually filling the bottles?
  2. At what time will all 1 080 bottles be filled?
Need a hint?

First find the time spent actually filling. Then count only the breaks that occur before all the bottles are filled.

Worked answer

  1. 1 080 ÷ 240 = 4 hours 30 minutes of actual filling.
  2. There are 2 cleaning breaks, after 2 hours and after 4 hours of filling.
  3. 2 × 15 = 30 minutes of break time.
  4. 4 hours 30 minutes + 30 minutes = 5 hours.
  5. 8.00 a.m. + 5 hours = 1.00 p.m.
Answer: 1.00 p.m.

The mistake this question tests

Habit

Minutes and hours in rate

Some pupils may ignore the two cleaning breaks and answer 12.30 p.m. Others may count a third break at 6 hours of filling, even though the filling is already complete.

How to fix it at home →

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