Anna wants to grow some lettuce in the garden and would like to grow enough to have at least 12 large salads. She estimates that, despite her best efforts, half of the lettuce will be lost to insects and rabbits. Each lettuce plant is estimated to provide 3 large salads. How many lettuce plants should Anna grow in the garden? Let's think first. Chain of thought:
The total number of plants needed for 12 dinner salads (without loss to insects or rabbits) is 12 / 3 salads from each lettuce plant = 4 lettuce plants. Since Anna expects to lose half of her plants to insects and rabbits, so we need to plant twice as many plants or 4 * 2 = 8 lettuce plants.
Therefore, the answer is 8.