Question

a postal carrier can deliver mail to about 900 addresses in one day. in the city of hewitt, there are 26,942 residents. workforce policies require hiring 5 percent more carriers than are estimated to be needed in order to compensate for vacation, sick days, and so on. about how many mail carriers must be hired to deliver mail to all of the hewitt citizens each day?

a. 29
b. 30
c. 31
d. 32

Explanation:

Calculate estimated carriers needed

We first find the base number of carriers required to cover all residents.

$$ \text{Base Carriers} = \frac{26,942}{900} \approx 29.936 $$

Apply workforce policy increase

Using the Percentage Calculations knowledge point, we increase the base estimate by \(5\%\) to account for policies.

$$ \text{Total Carriers} = 29.936 \times (1 + 0.05) = 29.936 \times 1.05 \approx 31.43 $$

Round to nearest whole carrier

We round the final value to the nearest whole number to match the options.

$$ 31.43 \approx 31 $$

Answer:

• (A) 29
• (B) 30
• (C) 31 (Correct answer)
• (D) 32