NAME _____________________

Tootsie Roll Paper Chain

You just read about a boy making a Tootsie Roll paper chain. Now, it is your job to calculate how much
money it would take to complete the task! Use the following information to help you and your partner.

 A large bag of Tootsie Rolls costs $2.39

 There are about 70 Tootsie Rolls in each bag
 A 15-mile-long chain is the goal

Solve the unit rate per Tootsie Roll. Round to the nearest cent (0.01)

SHOW ALL WORK USING PROPER UNITS.

2.39/70 = .034 =.03 or 2.39/70 = x/1 = .03 = x

Unit rate _________.03 per tootsie roll_________________

The unit rate you calculated is how much 1 Tootsie Roll costs. If there are 360,000 Tootsie Rolls needed,
how much money would be required to accomplish the Tootsie Roll paper chain?

SHOW ALL WORK USING PROPER UNITS.

.03/1 = x/360,000 = .03 x 360,000 = $10,800

Now that you know how much it costs, I want you to calculate approximately how many Tootsie Roll
papers are in one mile. There are 360,000 Tootsie Rolls in the 15-mile chain.

Solve the unit rate for the number of Tootsie Roll papers per one mile.

SHOW ALL WORK USING PROPER UNITS.

360,000/15 = x/1 = 360,000/15 = 24,000

Unit rate ________24,000 tootsie rolls per mile_________________

If you ate 1 bag of Tootsie Rolls per day (70 Tootsie Rolls), how many years would it take you to
accomplish a 360,000-paper Tootsie Roll chain?

70/1 = 360,000/x = 360,000/70 = 5,142.85 days to build the tootsie roll chain. There are 365 days in a
year so 5,142.85/ 365 = it will take 15 years to accomplish a 360,000 paper tootsie roll chain.

Step 1: If there are 70 Tootsie Rolls in one bag, how many bags make up 360,000 Tootsie Rolls? Round
to the nearest whole number/bag.

SHOW ALL WORK USING PROPER UNITS.

70/1 = 360,000/x = 360,000/70 = 5,142.85 = 5,143 bags are needed

360,000 Tootsie Rolls = __5,143__________ bags

Step 2: You can find out how many years are needed by dividing the number of bags by the number of
days in a year. (Exclude leap years!) Round to the nearest whole year.

# of bags needed ÷ # of days in 1-year = ____15 years_______________

Years needed to make a 15-mile long chain of Tootsie Roll papers ___15 years, 14.09 years__________

Buying the tootsie rolls isn’t the only expense you would have to consider when making the Tootsie Roll
paper chain. What are other expenses can you think of that would affect making the 15-mile long chain?
Make a list of items.

Staples, tape, measuring device to measure the miles