A product costs $11.00 per pound. What is the cost, in dollars, for 6 pounds of the product?

1. TRANSLATE the problem information

• Given information:
  • Product costs \(\$11.00\) per pound
  • Need to find the cost for 6 pounds

• What "per pound" means: \(\$11.00\) for every 1 pound

2. INFER the approach

• This is a unit rate problem
• When you know the cost per unit, multiply by the number of units to get total cost
• Formula: \(\mathrm{Total~cost} = (\mathrm{cost~per~pound}) \times (\mathrm{number~of~pounds})\)

3. SIMPLIFY by calculating

• Total cost:

\(\mathrm{Total~cost} = \$11.00 \times 6\)

\(\mathrm{Total~cost} = \$66.00\)

\(\mathrm{Total~cost} = \$66\)

Answer: $66

Why Students Usually Falter on This Problem

Most Common Error Path:

Weak INFER skill: Students may not recognize this as a multiplication situation and might try adding instead.

They might think: "I have $11 and 6 pounds, so I add them together: \(11 + 6 = 17\)."

This leads to confusion about what operation to use and may result in guessing.

The Bottom Line:

The key insight is recognizing that "per pound" establishes a rate that needs to be multiplied by the quantity. Students who struggle with unit rate concepts may not immediately see that multiplication is required.