an equal arm balance is leveled when 20 washers are on 1 side and 10 bolts on the other. 4 bolts are added to 1 side. How many washers must be added to the other side? I just need to know the formula..thanks!

Question

hero · Answer

Basically, this is the set up

$$\frac{20 \space \text{washers}}{x \space \text{washers}} = \frac{10 \space \text{bolts}}{4 \space \text{bolts}}$$

hero · Answer

You can consider both sides of the equal sign to be opposite sides

hero · Answer

You can cancel washers and bolts to simply get:

$$\frac{20}{x} = \frac{10}{4}$$

You can simplify 10/4 to get

$$\frac{20}{x} = \frac{5}{2}$$

Then cross multiply to get

40 = 5x

And finally divide both sides to get
40/5 = x
8 = x

Therefore, 8 washers must be added to the other side

anonymous · Answer

thank you!

hero · Answer

yw