Question

A truck can carry a load of 5000 lb. Assuming that it could be cut to fit, how many feet of steel beam weighing 32.6 lb/ft (pounds per foot) can the truck carry?

Answer 1

For this type of problem,

It is stated that the weight of steel is 32.6 lbs per foot

Meaning, every foot of steel beam weighs 32.6.

So 2 feet of steel beam would weigh 32.6 x 2 = 65.2 lbs

and 3 feet will be 32.6 x 3 = 97.8 lbs

Since we have a limit of 5000 lbs which is the capacity of the truck.

We can have an equation :

$32.6x=5000$

Where x is the number of foot

Solve the value of x by dividing both sides by 32.6 :

$\begin{gathered} \frac{\cancel{32.6}x}{\cancel{32.6}}=\frac{5000}{32.6} \\ x=153.37ft \end{gathered}$

So the answer is 153.37 feet of steel beam