Two inches of heavy, wet snow are equivalent to an inch of rain.

Question

Estimate the water content in 9 inches of heavy, wet snow.

The water content in 9 inches of snow is what in inches?

(Type an integer or decimal.)

Answer 1

This question is about ratios.  We are told that 2" of snow is equivalent to 1 " of rain and we want to figure out how much rain would be equivlaent to 9" of snow.

We can restate this as 2" snow is to 1" rain as 9" snow is to x" rain which can be writtten mathematically as

                    2            9

                 ____  =  ____

                   1            x

 

To solve we cross multiply and we get      2x = 9

                                                             x = 9 / 2

                                                                = 4 1/2