Arthur is trying to figure out the heights of 3 of his friends. Here are the facts he know:
1. The sum of the heighta oglf these 3 friends is 17 fast 8 inches.
2. The shortest friends is 5 feet 6 inches tall
3. The other 2 friends differ in height by 4 inches
How tall is the tallest friend?
Alright let friend one be represented by x, freind two by y and friend three by z.
So 17feet 8 inches needs to be converted.
Write out all that you know in algebra formulas.
x+y+z=
x=
y=
z=
and solve. Or just use the first formula and solve for each value by inserting the other formulas.
Dyou geddit?
Not really
Okay so you have
x+y+z= 17.666 (feet)
x= 5.72 (feet)
y= z-4
z= y+4
then you put those values into formula one
x+y+z=17.666
5.72+y+z=17.666
then you move the x value over the equals sign
y+z=17.666-5.72
Do you see where I'm going?
To find the height of the tallest friend, we can use the information given. Let's break it down step by step:
1. The sum of the heights of the three friends is 17 feet 8 inches. This means that if we add up the height of the shortest friend, the second friend, and the tallest friend, it should equal 17 feet 8 inches.
2. We are told that the shortest friend is 5 feet 6 inches tall. Therefore, we can subtract 5 feet 6 inches from the total sum to get the combined height of the second friend and the tallest friend.
17 feet 8 inches - 5 feet 6 inches = 12 feet 2 inches
3. We are also told that the other two friends differ in height by 4 inches. Let's assume the height of the second friend is x. This means that the height of the tallest friend will be x + 4 inches.
Now, we can set up an equation using the information we have:
x + (x + 4) = 12 feet 2 inches
Combining like terms, we get:
2x + 4 = 12 feet 2 inches
Subtracting 4 from both sides, we have:
2x = 12 feet - 2 inches
Converting 12 feet into inches, we get:
2x = 144 inches - 2 inches
2x = 142 inches
Dividing both sides by 2, we find:
x = 71 inches
So, the height of the second friend is 71 inches. Now we can calculate the height of the tallest friend:
Height of tallest friend = x + 4 inches = 71 inches + 4 inches = 75 inches
Therefore, the tallest friend is 6 feet 3 inches tall.