A 150-pound person can burn 7.3 calories a minute mowing the lawn with a push mower. How many calories would this person burn in two and a half hours of mowing?

Question

If anyone would be so generous to help me with this question that would be amazing. I need to learn the steps.

Answer 1

"150-pound person" is called TMI (too much information); it makes the word (story) problem more realistic, but it is not used to answer the question.

 

After reading and re-reading the problem until you can put it into your own words, it becomes: "At a rate of 7.3 calories per minute, how many calories are burned in 2 1/1 hours?"

 

To convert units without converting values, we use the Multiplicative Identity (that is, 1).  This problem uses:

     1  =  (60 minutes)/(1 hour)

 

The problem:

     (2 1/2 hours)*(7.3 calories per minute)

     (2.5 hours)*((7.3 calories)/(1 minute))

     (2.5 hours)*((7.3 calories)/(1 minute))*1

     (2.5 hours)*((7.3 calories)/(1 minute))*((60 minutes)/(1 hour))

     (2.5)*(7.3)*(60) calories             [minutes and hours cancel out]

      1095 calories  

Answer 2

2.5 hours = 60 + 60 + 30 minutes = 150 minutes.

150(7.3) = 1095 calories