Think about how to relate the number of people to the total weight that the porch needs to support. Then set up an equation.
175
Practice makes perfect
The porch needs to hold 20 people and 250 pounds of furniture. According to the contractor's calculations, the total weight will be 3750 pounds. We want to find the value that the contractor used for the weight of each person in his calculations. We can use a table to identify and organize the information we have and write it as an algebraic expression.
Verbal Expression
Algebraic Expression
Weight of each person in pounds
w
Weight of 20 people in pounds
20w
Total weight supported by the porch in pounds
3750
The porch holds 20 people and 250 pounds of furniture giving a total weight of 3750 pounds
20 w + 250 = 3750
The equation we can use to represent this situation is 20w + 250 = 3750. To solve for the weight of each person w, we need to isolate w using inverse operations and the Properties of Equality.
