How to calculate the cost of bottled water on a per cubic meter basis?

I'm trying to answer this question:

Water delivered from a public supply in western Michigan costs $0.45 per cubic meter. A 0.5 L bottle of water purchased from a dispensing machine costs $1.00. What is the cost of the bottled water on a per cubic meter basis?

The Answer is: $2000 m^(-3)

I tried calculating by getting that one 0.5L bottle is 0.0005 cubic meters ; then taking 0.0005 * $0.45 and got $2.25 x 10^(-4)

How do i calculate it to get the correct answer of $2000 m^(-3) ?

thanks

billrussell422010-09-06T17:58:20Z

Favorite Answer

$1 / 0.5 L x 1000 L / m³ = $2000 per m³

The $0.45 number is not relevant.

.

Brian G2010-09-06T17:59:32Z

There are 1000 liters in a cubic meter. At $2 per liter, it costs $2000 to buy a cubic meter in bottles. It costs only $0.45 to buy it in bulk from the tap. Since it is the very same thing, you are wasting $1,999.55 if you buy it in bottles. This is also the gross profit realized by the dispensing machine company, because they are just filtering ordinary tap water.

Anonymous2010-09-06T18:11:39Z

1 liter is about 1,000 cm^3. based on an obsolete definition of Volume, density of water as 1 gm / cm^3 and 1 liter should weigh 1 Kilogram

a cubic Meter is (100 cm ) cubed or 1,000,000 cc

ok I agree 1,000 l = 1 m^3

?2016-06-01T05:25:17Z

?? You can't. Without knowing the ratio of cement to other ingredients, the number is a guess.