A pile of newspapers in Ms. McGrath’s art class was 17 3/4 inches high. Each consecutive week, for the next 5 weeks, the height of the pile of newspapers increased by 8 7/12 inches. What was the height, in inches, of the pile after 3 weeks?
If you would like to know what was the height, in inches, of the pile after 3 weeks, you can calculate this using the following steps:
17 3/4 inches + 3 8 7/12 inches = 71/4 + 3 103/12 = 213/12 + 309/12 = 522/12 = 87/2 = 43 1/2 inches
The correct result would be 43 1/2 inches.
Let
x--------> the number of weeks
y--------> the height of a pile of newspapers in inches
we know that
\(17\frac{3}{4}=\frac{17*4+3}{4} =\frac{71}{4}\)
\(8\frac{7}{12}=\frac{8*12+7}{12} =\frac{103}{12}\)
\(y=\frac{103}{12}x+\frac{71}{4}\)
To find the height after \(3\) weeks
Let
\(x=3\ weeks\) and substitute in the equation
\(y=\frac{103}{12}*3+\frac{71}{4}\)
\(y=\frac{174}{4}\)
\(y=43.5\ in\)
\(y=43\frac{1}{2} \ in\)
therefore
the answer is
the height, in inches, of the pile after \(3\) weeks is \(43\frac{1}{2} \ in\)