David W. answered • 07/10/15
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I jumped up, so I have to complete the question, then answer it.
"a child weights 54 pounds (lb). which of the following is the appropriate estimate of this child's mass kilograms (kg) ? ( note: 1 kg = 0.454 lb)
This is an exercise in estimation. So, 0.454 is just a little less that 1/2 and 1/2 of 54 is 27. Start with that.
[ Just for fun (and for the precise math people among us), 54*0.454 = 24.49399 but that can't be exact because 54 lbs was probably rounded a little bit before it was included in the problem ]
David W.
John, THX very much for identifying a typo -- it should be: (note: 1 lb = 0.454 kg)
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07/12/15
David W.
John -- oh, and with the correction of "1 lb = 0.454 kg," do you still characterize the solution with the words "lucky," "error," "mistake," "supposed to," "should have," wrong thing," "luckily," ...??? PLZ consider the value of the edited solution (vs. the paltriness of your comments).
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07/12/15
JOHN F.
David, David, David...the precise math people among us don't blindly read the problem and accept its assertions. We inspect and scrutinize and make corrections. (1 kg = 2.2 pounds). It's better sometimes to be lucky than to be good, because you immediately followed up with an error that "corrected" your first mistake. If you had divided by 1/2 (like you were supposed to do) your estimate should have been closer to 100. Instead, you multiplied by 1/2 (the wrong thing to do) and luckily for you this was just what was needed to fix your first mistake.
07/12/15