Question

The heaviest land animal ever recorded (according to the Guinness Book of World Records) was a male African bush elephant. He weighed 13.5 tons measured to the nearest half-ton. How would you find the elephant’s minimum and maximum possible weights?

Answer 1

To find the minimum and maximum weights of the heaviest land elephant recorded, we convert tons to pounds knowing that 1 ton equals 2,000 pounds. For minimum weight, multiply 13 tons by 2,000. For maximum weight, multiply 14 tons by 2,000; the range would be slightly over 26,000 to just under 28,000 pounds.

Step-by-step explanation:

The heaviest land animal ever recorded was an African bush elephant that weighed 13.5 tons, measured to the nearest half-ton. To find the minimum and maximum possible weights of the elephant, we recognize that 13.5 tons could represent any weight between 13 tons and 14 tons when rounded to the nearest half-ton. Therefore, we first need to convert tons into pounds, as the customary unit of weight, where 1 ton equals 2,000 pounds.

For the minimum weight, we assume the elephant weighs just a bit over 13 tons (since it rounds up to 13.5 tons), which gives us:

13 tons x 2,000 pounds/ton = 26,000 pounds.

For the maximum weight, we assume the elephant weighs just under 14 tons (since that would round down to 13.5 tons), which gives us:

14 tons x 2,000 pounds/ton = 28,000 pounds.

Therefore, the minimum possible weight for the elephant would be slightly over 26,000 pounds, and the maximum possible weight would be just under 28,000 pounds.