the capacity of an elevator is either 25 children or 19 adults. If 12 children are currently in the elevator, how many adults can still get in?

Question

How do i answer or solve the problem?

Answer 1

Since 25 children can be in the elevator, each child fills up 1/25 of the elevator's capacity.

 

Similarly, since 19 adults can be in the elevator, each adult fills up 1/19 of the elevator's capacity.

 

Right now, there are 12 children in the elevator, so 12/25 of the elevator is full. You need to find out how many adults can fit (each one adding 1/19 of the elevator's capacity) before the capacity is surpassed. In other words, how many times can we add 1/19 to 12/25 before we go past 1?

 

12/25 + x/19 = 1

x/19 = 25/25 - 12/25

x/19 = 13/25

x = 247/25 = 9.88

 

This means we can fit 9 adults into the elevator, but as soon as the 10th gets on, the elevator will have surpassed its capacity.