The vet told Jake that his dog, Rocco, who weighed 55 pounds, needed to lose 10 pounds. Jake started walking Rocco every day and changed the amount of food he was feeding him. Rocco lost half a pound the first week. Jake wants to determine Rocco’s weight in pounds, p, after w weeks if Rocco continues to lose weight based on his vet’s advice.

The equation of the scenario is ?
.

The values of p must be?

Question

The vet told Jake that his dog, Rocco, who weighed 55 pounds, needed to lose 10 pounds. Jake started walking Rocco every day and changed the amount of food he was feeding him. Rocco lost half a pound the first week. Jake wants to determine Rocco’s weight in pounds, p, after w weeks if Rocco continues to lose weight based on his vet’s advice.

The equation of the scenario is ?
 .

The values of p must be?

Mercury · Answer

For simplicity's sake let's assume the weight loss is linear

weight = (initial weight) - (weight lost per week)(# of weeks)

fill in the appropriate values/variables from the problem

now, to find acceptable values of p, realize that the greatest value of p must occur at the beginning (55 lbs) and the least value of p must occur at the end of the weight loss program (55 lbs - 10 lbs)