Calculate the number of vans needed by dividing the number of people that need transported by the capacity of one van:

vans = \( \frac{42}{6} \) = 7

The ratio of football cards to baseball cards is 7:2 and the ratio of baseball cards to basketball cards is 7:1. To solve this problem, we need the baseball card side of each ratio to be equal so we need to rewrite the ratios in terms of a common number of baseball cards. (Think of this like finding the common denominator when adding fractions.) The ratio of football to baseball cards can also be written as 49:14 and the ratio of baseball cards to basketball cards as 14:2. So, the ratio of football cards to basketball cards is football:baseball, baseball:basketball or 49:14, 14:2 which reduces to 49:2.

The equation for this sequence is:

a_n = a_n-1 + 4

where n is the term's order in the sequence, a_n is the value of the term, and a_n-1 is the value of the term before a_n. This makes the next number:

a₆ = a₅ + 4
a₆ = 17 + 4
a₆ = 21

To take the square root of a fraction, break the fraction into two separate roots then calculate the square root of the numerator and denominator separately:

\( \sqrt{\frac{49}{49}} \)
\( \frac{\sqrt{49}}{\sqrt{49}} \)
\( \frac{\sqrt{7^2}}{\sqrt{7^2}} \)
1

In order to find how many additional workers are needed to staff the extra crews you first need to calculate how many workers are on a crew. There are 16 workers at the company now and that's enough to staff 4 crews so there are \( \frac{16}{4} \) = 4 workers on a crew. 9 crews are needed for the busy season which, at 4 workers per crew, means that the roofing company will need 9 x 4 = 36 total workers to staff the crews during the busy season. The company already employs 16 workers so they need to add 36 - 16 = 20 new staff for the busy season.