Teresa estimates that the height of a giraffe in a zoo is 18 feet. In fact, it is 16 feet tall. What is Teresa's percent error? Use proportional relationships to solve the problem. Be sure to show all your work, provide your answer as a percentage, and round your answer to the nearest tenth.

Answer: Teresa's percent error is 12.5%.
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3 answers

To find Teresa's percent error in estimating the height of the giraffe, we can follow these steps:

  1. Find the difference: First, we need to calculate how far off Teresa's estimate was from the actual height of the giraffe.

    • Actual height = 16 feet
    • Estimated height = 18 feet
    • Difference = Estimated height - Actual height = 18 - 16 = 2 feet
  2. Find the percent error: Next, we use the formula for percent error, which is: \[ \text{Percent Error} = \left( \frac{\text{Difference}}{\text{Actual Value}} \right) \times 100 \]

    • We can plug in the values: \[ \text{Percent Error} = \left( \frac{2}{16} \right) \times 100 \]
  3. Calculate:

    • First, divide 2 by 16: \[ \frac{2}{16} = 0.125 \]
    • Then, multiply by 100 to find the percentage: \[ 0.125 \times 100 = 12.5 \]

So, Teresa's percent error in estimating the height of the giraffe is 12.5%.

can you shorten it more

Sure! Here’s a shorter version:

To find Teresa's percent error:

  1. Calculate the difference:

    • Estimated height = 18 feet
    • Actual height = 16 feet
    • Difference = 18 - 16 = 2 feet
  2. Use the percent error formula: \[ \text{Percent Error} = \left( \frac{\text{Difference}}{\text{Actual Height}} \right) \times 100 \]

    • \[ \text{Percent Error} = \left( \frac{2}{16} \right) \times 100 = 12.5% \]

Teresa's percent error is 12.5%.