How many cubic yards of dirt will be excavated from a trench that measures 80' long, 4' wide, and 16" deep?

To determine the number of cubic yards of dirt that will be excavated from the trench, you first need to calculate the volume of the trench in cubic feet and then convert that volume into cubic yards.

The trench dimensions provided are 80 feet long, 4 feet wide, and 16 inches deep. Since the depth is expressed in inches, it will need to be converted to feet for consistency. There are 12 inches in a foot, so 16 inches converts to 16/12, which is approximately 1.33 feet.

Now, calculate the volume of the trench in cubic feet using the formula for the volume of a rectangular prism:

Volume = Length × Width × Depth

Plugging in the dimensions:

Volume = 80 feet × 4 feet × 1.33 feet = 426.4 cubic feet.

To convert cubic feet to cubic yards, you divide by 27, since there are 27 cubic feet in one cubic yard:

Volume in cubic yards = 426.4 cubic feet / 27 = approximately 15.8 cubic yards.

When rounding to the nearest whole number, the volume is approximately 16 cubic yards.

This calculation shows that the correct answer is indeed 16 cubic yards.