College student needs help with math

Question

A 170 pound person weighs 85 pounds on Mars. How much would a 15400 pound elephant weigh on Mars

Answer 1

Hi Frances,

This question has to do with understand proportions.

In this case, the way we would set it up is by thinking of the problem like this:

weight of object 1 on Mars = weight of object 2 on Mars

weight of object 1 on Earth weight of object 2 on Earth

Let us assume...

object 1 = person

object 2 = elephant

Therefore,

85 pounds = elephant weight on Mars

170 pounds 15400 pounds

By cross multiplying...

85(15400) = 170(elephant weight on Mars)

By dividing...

85(15400) = elephant weight on Mars

170

Now we can just plug this into a calculator! :)

elephant weight on Mars = 7700 pounds

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks,

Achi