I have reread this promble so many times and am still not getting it. I posted this yesterday and am still not understanding it. Please help again
The length of the Statue of Liberty's index finger is 8 feet while the height to the top of the head is about 111 feet. Suppose your measurements are proportionaly the same as this statue and your height is 5 feet.
a. Use the information to find the proposed length of your index finger. Give an exact measurement and then a decimal rounded to the nearest hundredth.
b. Measure your index finger and write it as a decimal in feet round to the nearest hundredth. How close is the length of your index finger to a. Explain. My index finger is 2 1/2 inches.
Here's PsyDAG's answer.
Algebra Please Help - PsyDAG, Wednesday, April 20, 2011 at 12:14pm
a. 8/111 = x/5
Solve for x.
b. We don't have your finger to measure.
Algebra Please Help - Shawn L, Wednesday, April 20, 2011 at 4:50pm
That is true. And funny. But my finger is 2 1/2 inches. I just need to know how to start it. Don't understand how my number are to be wrote down.
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PsyDAG set up a proportion for you to solve. Cross multiply and solve for x.
a. 8/111 = x/5
111x = 40
x = 40/111
x = ?
b.
12/2.5 = 0.2 feet
Set up the proportion and solve it the same way.
Thank you so much for the help.
You're welcome.
To solve this problem, we can use the concept of ratios and proportions.
a. We can set up a proportion comparing the length of the Statue of Liberty's index finger to its height, and then use the same proportion to find the length of your index finger.
The proportion can be set up as:
Length of Statue of Liberty's index finger / Height of Statue of Liberty = Length of your index finger / Your height
Plugging in the given values, we get:
8 feet / 111 feet = Length of your index finger / 5 feet
Now, we can solve for the length of your index finger:
Length of your index finger = (8 feet / 111 feet) * 5 feet
Calculating this, we get:
Length of your index finger ≈ 0.045 feet (rounded to the nearest hundredth)
So, the proposed length of your index finger is approximately 0.045 feet.
b. To determine how close the length of your actual index finger is to the proposed length (0.045 feet), we need to convert the measurement of your index finger (2 1/2 inches) to feet.
1 foot = 12 inches
So, 2 1/2 inches = (2 + 1/2) inches = (2 + 0.5) inches = 2.5 inches
Now, we can convert inches to feet by dividing by 12:
2.5 inches / 12 = 0.2083 feet
Rounded to the nearest hundredth, the length of your index finger is approximately 0.21 feet.
By comparing our proposed length (0.045 feet) with the actual length (0.21 feet), we can see that they are quite different. This may be due to the fact that the proportion we used from the Statue of Liberty's measurements does not perfectly apply to your own proportions. It's important to note that this is an approximate method and might not give an accurate result for every individual.