A canteen requires 56 kg of rice for seven days. Assuming consumption is uniform, what quantity of rice will be required for the combined months of April and May?

Introduction / Context:
This is a simple proportionality problem where daily consumption is constant. Once the daily requirement is known, we can scale it to any number of days, here the total days in April and May together.

Given Data / Assumptions:
- Rice required for 7 days = 56 kg. - Consumption is assumed uniform per day. - We consider April and May together with 30 and 31 days respectively. - Total days in April and May combined = 61.

Concept / Approach:
If 56 kg is used in 7 days, the daily consumption is 56 / 7 kg. That daily requirement is then multiplied by the total number of days, 61, to get the total rice required. This uses the direct proportion idea that more days mean more rice in linear fashion when daily usage is fixed.

Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Daily rice consumption = 56 / 7 kg. Step 2: 56 / 7 = 8 kg per day. Step 3: Number of days in April = 30, in May = 31. Step 4: Total days for April and May = 30 + 31 = 61. Step 5: Total rice needed = daily consumption * number of days. Step 6: So total required = 8 * 61 = 488 kg.

Verification / Alternative check:
As a quick check, for 56 days the requirement would be 8 * 56 = 448 kg. For 5 extra days, we need 5 * 8 = 40 kg more. Adding gives 448 + 40 = 488 kg, which matches the earlier calculation and confirms the result.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
- 468, 498, 508 and 512 kg all correspond to incorrect multiplication or an incorrect day count. - Any answer not equal to 8 * 61 is mathematically inconsistent with the given daily rate.

Common Pitfalls:
Some learners forget that April has 30 days and May has 31 days, or they miscalculate 56 / 7. Others directly scale 56 by an incorrect factor without finding daily usage. Being precise with day counts and intermediate steps prevents such errors.

Final Answer:
The canteen requires 488 kg of rice for April and May together.