A contractor is adding a back porch on to a house. The porch needs to hold 20 people and furniture that weighs 250 lb. The contractor calculates that the porch needs to hold 3750 lb to meet that specification. What value did the contractor use for the weight of a person?

Question

A) 200
B) 150
C) 250
D) 175

Answer 1

To determine the value the contractor used for the weight of a person, we can set up an equation based on the total weight the porch needs to support.

Let \( x \) be the weight of one person in pounds. The porch needs to support 20 people and 250 lb for the furniture, totaling 3750 lb. Therefore, we can write the equation as:

\[ 20x + 250 = 3750 \]

Now, let's solve for \( x \):

1. Subtract 250 from both sides:

\[ 20x = 3750 - 250 \] \[ 20x = 3500 \]

2. Now, divide both sides by 20:

\[ x = \frac{3500}{20} \] \[ x = 175 \]

The contractor used a value of 175 lb for the weight of a person. Therefore, the correct answer is:

D) 175