Question

The average hair grows at a rate about 1/8 inch per week. If Jenny's hair is 10 inches long then how many week's will it take to her to grow her hair to 15inches?

Write an equation that models this information. Then solve the equation. Show all steps.

Answer 1

Let's define w as the number of weeks it will take for Jenny's hair to grow from 10 inches to 15 inches.
Since the hair grows at a rate of 1/8 inch per week, we can calculate the total amount of growth in w weeks by multiplying the rate by the number of weeks: (1/8)w.
To find the final length of Jenny's hair after w weeks, we add this growth to the initial length of 10 inches: 10 + (1/8)w.
Since we want to find the number of weeks it takes for Jenny's hair to reach 15 inches, we can set the final length equation equal to 15: 10 + (1/8)w = 15.
To solve this equation, we first subtract 10 from both sides: (1/8)w = 5.
Next, we multiply each side by 8 to get rid of the fraction: w = 40.
Therefore, it will take Jenny 40 weeks to grow her hair from 10 inches to 15 inches.