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?(3 points)

Question

Responses

200
200

175
175

250
250

150
150

Answer 1

To find the value the contractor used for the weight of a person, we can set up the following equation based on the information given:

Let \( x \) be the weight of one person.

The total weight the porch needs to hold is the combined weight of 20 people and the furniture:

\[ 20x + 250 = 3750 \]

Now, we can solve for \( x \):

1. Subtract the weight of the furniture from the total weight requirement: \[ 20x = 3750 - 250 \] \[ 20x = 3500 \]

2. Divide both sides by 20: \[ x = \frac{3500}{20} = 175 \]

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

175