A dog owner is told by the veterinarian that his dog, Max, is overweight and needs to lose 4 to 5 pounds in order to live a healthy life. The dog weighs 126 pounds when he is put on a special diet to aid in the weight loss. The vet predicts that the diet will allow Max to lose 4 ounces per week. Max is brought to the vet every 2 weeks for a weight check. Write an equation to represent the doctor's prediction, and the relationship between Max's weight in pounds, y, and the number of times Max's weight is checked, x, in periods of two weeks. Reduce all answers to the nearest tenth of a number.
a0 = a1 - a2x

Question

imqwerty · Answer

Max's initial weight = 126pounds

He has to lose 4 ounces a week, so that is 8 ounces in two weeks or 0.5pounds in two weeks 
If he visits the vet $x$ times in periods of two weeks then the total weight loss will be $0.5x$

you can get his new weight $y$ after $x$ visits to the vet by just subtracting the weight loss done in that time period

$y = 126 - 0.5x$