Question

Medal
A personal trainer has a supply of weight plates to make custom barbells to use for weight-training. The trainer adds
13 3/4 pounds of plates to each side of the dumbbell bar, which itself weighs
7 1/2 pounds. Write a ratio comparing the weight added to each side of the dumbbell bar to the weight of the bar itself, using a fraction in simplest terms.

Answer 1

anyone can you help me

Answer 2

yes i understand

Answer 3

its 9.75

Answer 4

Yah yah yah I misread the question :(

He added `13 and 3/4` pounds of plates to each side.
So that's supposed to be a mixed number.

Answer 5

\[\Large\rm \frac{\text{weight added to each side}}{\text{weight of the bar}}=\frac{13\frac{3}{4}}{7\frac{1}{2}}\]So we want our ratio to look something like this, yes?

Answer 6

yes

Answer 7

They want it in simplest terms though,
We would like to rewrite our `mixed numbers` as improper fractions.

Answer 8

so its 55/4 15/2

Answer 9

\[\Large\rm \frac{55/4}{15/2}\]Ok great!
Do you remember how to deal with fractions when they're being divided?
Did you learn `keep change flip` or something similar maybe?

Answer 10

yes we do that

Answer 11

Mmm k good :)

So you `keep` the 55/4 the same,
you `change` the operation from division to multiplication,
and `flip` the bottom fraction.

Answer 12

\[\Large\rm \frac{55}{4}\times \frac{2}{15}\]Like ummm, like that, yah?

Answer 13

yes i understand

Answer 14

You COULD multiply the tops and bottoms separately,
but it's maybe a good idea to simplify things BEFORE multiplying.

Answer 15

\[\Large\rm \frac{55}{\cancel{4}2}\times \frac{\cancel{2}1}{15}\]Do you understand what I did right there?
Dividing a 2 out of the top and bottom.

Answer 16

yes

Answer 17

i understand

Answer 18

How bout with the numbers ending in a 5,
can we do something similar with those?

What do you think? :)
Do it!!

Answer 19

divide them by 5

Answer 20

Yes yes yes.
So do it :3
What do you get for an answer?

Answer 21

11/3

Answer 22

am i right?

Answer 23

\[\Large\rm \frac{55}{\cancel{4}2}\times \frac{\cancel{2}1}{15}\]
\[\Large\rm \frac{55}{2}\times \frac{1}{15}\]
\[\Large\rm \frac{\cancel{55}11}{2}\times \frac{1}{\cancel{15}3}\]
\[\Large\rm \frac{11}{2}\times \frac{1}{3}\]Ok good, taking a 5 out gives us that.
Finish up the multiplication though ^^

Answer 24

so its 11/6

Answer 25

Yayyy good job \c:/

Answer 26

is this the ratio

Answer 27

`Write a ratio` ... `using a fraction in simplest terms.`

Yes! We've finally got it in the simplest form! :)

Answer 28

ok thank you :)