Question

Stephen has a dog that weighs 5 times as much as ian’s dog. the total weight of both dogs is 72 pounds. how much does stephen’s dog weigh?

Answer 1

We'll let x represent the weight of Ian's dog.

So we can make the formula Ian's dog (x) + Stephen' dog (5x) = 72

So:
 x+5x=72
6x=72
x=12

So ian's dog is 12 pounds, but we're trying to find stephen's dog (5x)

We need to multiply x by 5 so:

5(12)=60

Therefore, Stephen's dog is 60 pounds

Answer 2

If x was Ian's dog, you could then out it into an equation, looking like :
x + 5x = 72
Then you would simplify:
6x = 72
And then you can solve
6x = 72
÷ 6
x = 12
Now we know that Ian's dog is 12 pounds, if we multiply 12 by 5 we get Stephen's dog, which is 60 pounds. Hope this helps!