Billy’s dog weighs 30 pounds. Ruth’s dog weighs two sixths as much as Billy’s dog. How many pounds do Billy’s dog and Ruth’s dog weigh in all?
The Correct Answer and Explanation is :
To solve the problem, we need to determine the weight of Ruth’s dog and then calculate the total weight of both Billy’s and Ruth’s dogs combined.
Step 1: Determine the weight of Ruth’s dog
We know that Ruth’s dog weighs two-sixths as much as Billy’s dog, and Billy’s dog weighs 30 pounds. To find Ruth’s dog’s weight, we multiply Billy’s dog’s weight by two-sixths.
[
\text{Weight of Ruth’s dog} = 30 \times \frac{2}{6}
]
[
\text{Weight of Ruth’s dog} = 30 \times \frac{1}{3}
]
[
\text{Weight of Ruth’s dog} = 10 \, \text{pounds}
]
So, Ruth’s dog weighs 10 pounds.
Step 2: Calculate the total weight
Now that we know Billy’s dog weighs 30 pounds and Ruth’s dog weighs 10 pounds, we add their weights together to find the total weight.
[
\text{Total weight} = 30 + 10 = 40 \, \text{pounds}
]
Final Answer:
The total weight of Billy’s dog and Ruth’s dog is 40 pounds.
Explanation:
In this problem, Ruth’s dog’s weight is expressed as a fraction of Billy’s dog’s weight. We calculated two-sixths of 30 by multiplying 30 pounds by two-sixths (which simplifies to one-third). After simplifying, Ruth’s dog weighs 10 pounds. To get the total weight of both dogs, we simply added Billy’s dog’s 30 pounds and Ruth’s dog’s 10 pounds, resulting in a combined total of 40 pounds. This type of problem demonstrates the use of fractions in a real-world context, helping reinforce basic multiplication and fraction operations.