Question

At a party of 102 people,17 lb of potato salad is served. a. Write and solve an equation to find how many people each pound of potato salad serves. b. Write and solve an equation to find the average number of pounds of potato salad that each person is served.

Answer 1

Each pound of potato salad serves 6 people and the average number of pounds of potato salad that each person is served will be $\frac{1}{6}$ pound.

Explanation

At a party of 102 people, 17 pounds of potato salad is served.

a.  Suppose, each pound of potato salad is served to $x$ number of people.

So, 17 pounds of salad is served to $(17*x)$ or $17x$ number of people. That means......

$17x= 102\\ \\ x= \frac{102}{17}=6$

So, each pound of potato salad is served to 6 people.

b.  Suppose, the average number of pounds of potato salad that each person is served is  $y$

So, the total number of pounds of salad, served to 102 people $= (y*102)$ pounds $=102y$ pounds. That means .....

$102y= 17\\ \\ y= \frac{17}{102}= \frac{1}{6}$

So, the average number of pounds of potato salad that each person is served will be  $\frac{1}{6}$ pound.