Question 49001: A person weighs 0.5% less at the Equator than at the North or South Poles. How much would a person weigh at the Equator if the person weighed 148 pounds at the North Pole?
Found 2 solutions by checkley71, Born2TeachMath:
Answer by checkley71(8403)   (Show Source):
Answer by Born2TeachMath(20) (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website! The trick to this problem is not to find out how much weight the person lost, but how much they still weigh!
If a person weighs 0.5% less at the equator, then they still weigh 99.5% left at the equator (100% - 0.5%)
Therefore, to find how much a 148 pound person weighs at the equator, then we find 99.5% of 148.
We convert 99.5% to decimals: .995
and multiply it by the given weight of 148
.995 * 148 = 147.26
You weigh less at the equator because the earth is spinning around once per day. Therefore, you're being thrown off the earth - upwards - equal to about .5% of your body wieght when on the equator compared to someone standing at the north or south pole, who is not moving, but simply standing still and spinning like a top in one place! Don't move to the equator to lose weight - it's not worth it!
You could also do this problem by finding out how much weight someone loses (0.5% = .05 in decimals times 148 pounds = 0.74 pounds), and then subtracting this weight loss from the original 148 pounds, so 148 - .74 = 147.26 pounds.
But it's more direct to find the weight left - less steps!
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