Question

An elephant at the zoo lost 30 pounds over six months. If the elephant lost the same amount of weight each month, which integer represents the monthly weight loss?

Answer 1

Given:

An elephant at the zoo lost 30 pounds over six months.

To find:

The integer which represents the monthly weight loss.

Solution:

Total weight loss = 30 pounds

Number of months = 6

The weight loss in each month is

`\\text{Monthly weight loss}=\frac{\text{Total weight loss}}{\text{Number of months}}`

`\\text{Monthly weight loss}=(30)/(6)`

`\\text{Monthly weight loss}=5`

Monthly weight loss is 5. So, the required integer which represents weight loss is -5. Here, negative sign represents the loss.

It means monthly weight loss is represented by -5.