Question

A pile of newspapers in Ms. McGrath’s art class was 17 3/4 inches high. Each consecutive week, for the next 5 weeks, the height of the pile of newspapers increased by 8 7/12 inches. What was the height, in inches, of the pile after 3 weeks?

Answer 1

If you would like to know what was the height, in inches, of the pile after 3 weeks, you can calculate this using the following steps:

17 3/4 inches + 3 * 8 7/12 inches = 71/4 + 3 * 103/12 = 213/12 + 309/12 = 522/12 = 87/2 = 43 1/2 inches

The correct result would be 43 1/2 inches.

Answer 2

Let

x--------> the number of weeks

y--------> the height of a pile of newspapers in inches

we know that

$17\frac{3}{4}=\frac{17*4+3}{4} =\frac{71}{4}$

$8\frac{7}{12}=\frac{8*12+7}{12} =\frac{103}{12}$

$y=\frac{103}{12}x+\frac{71}{4}$

To find the height after $3$ weeks

Let

$x=3\ weeks$ and substitute in the equation

$y=\frac{103}{12}*3+\frac{71}{4}$

$y=\frac{174}{4}$

$y=43.5\ in$

$y=43\frac{1}{2} \ in$

therefore

the answer is

the height, in inches, of the pile after $3$ weeks is $43\frac{1}{2} \ in$