Question

A dog owner Is told be the vet that his dog is overweight and needs to lose 4 to 5 pounds in order to live healthy. The dog weighs 126 pounds at the beginning of his diet. The diet allows him to lose 4 ounces per week. The dog is brought to the vet every two weeks for a checkup. Write an equation to represent the docs prediction and the relationship between his weight in pounds,y, and the number of times his weight is checked (x) in periods of two weeks. Reduces all answers to the nearest tenths of a number

Answer 1

We can break down the facts into more convenient data. Let's take out the numerical pieces of information:
(1) Needs to lose 4 to 5 pounds in order to live healthy.
(2) The dog weights 126 pounds at the beginning ...
(3) The diet allows him to lose 4 ounces* per week. * this is a fractional unit of pounds. what's the conversion?
(4) The dog is brought to the vet every two weeks for a checkup.
Problem: Write an equation to represent the doc's prediction and the relationship between his weight (in pounds), y, and the number of times his weight is checked, x, in periods of two weeks.

(2) gives us the weight initially, at x=0.
(3) gives us the rate at which the dog's weight is changing (ounces) with respect to time (weeks). We will need to convert this unit to pounds per 2 weeks for it to become useful, as it is worth noting that x is in units of 2 weeks and the product of [pounds/ 2weeks] x [2weeks] = [pounds]

I will leave the question at this point. If you return and still need help, please feel free to post, tag me, or bump your question up for more attention!