Question

Paul a janitor must move a large shipment of books from the first floor to the fifth floor. the sign on the elevator reads maximum weight 1000 pounds . if each box of books weighs 60 pounds find the maximum number of boxes that paul should place in the elevator

Answer 1

The maximum weight the elevation can carry is

`=1000\text{ pounds}`

Each box weighs

`=60\text{ pounds}`

As in the sign is stated that the maximum weight that the elevator can carry is 1000 pounds and each of the boxes of books weighs 60 pounds,you should divide the maximum weight the elevator can carry by the weight of each box of books then you have

`\text{ number of boxes= }\frac{\text{maximum elevator load}}{\text{each box weight}}`
`\begin{gathered} \text{ number of boxes}=(1000)/(60)\text{boxes =16.7 boxes} \\ \end{gathered}`

He can maximum ride 16.7boxes, but if the boxes can't be divided he can just carry 16 boxes, because if he carries 17 boxes the weight in the elevator will be 1020, which beats the maximum capacity of the elevator.

Hence,

Then he can place a maximum of 16 boxes in the elevator