Question

Shellac O'Lean, a freshman on your school's football team, is 6 ft tall and weighs 140 lb. Since he would rather play basketball, he plans to grow to 7 ft 1 in., the same height as Shaquille O'Neal, his idol. If Shellac scales geometrically as he grows, how much can he expect to weigh? (O'Neal weighs 325 lb. Round your answer to the nearest whole number.)

Answer 1

At 7 ft. 1 in., Shellac can expect to weigh approximately 165 lb

Explanation:

The relationship between the heights and the weights of the freshman are presented as follows;

The weight of the freshman at 6 ft. = 140 lb

The height to which he plans to grow = 7 ft. 1 in.

Given that Shellac scales geometrically as he grows, then the height to weight ratio is constant

Let 'y' represent Shellac's weight when his height is 75 ft. 1 in., we have;

`(6 \, ft.)/(140 \ lb) = (7 \, ft. \ 1 \, in. )/(y)`

6 ft. = 72 in.

7 ft. 1 in. = 85 in.

Therefore, we get;

`(72 \ in.)/(140 \ lb) = (85 \ in. )/(y)`

`y ={85 \ in. }* (140 \, lb)/(72 \ in.) = 165.2 \overline 7 \, lbs`

Shellac's expected weight given to the nearest whole number when his height is 7 ft. 1 in. ≈ 165 lb.