Real-Life Math -- Solution
You are an elevator repair technician trying to assist people who
are stuck in the elevator. The first thing you want to know is: on which floor
is the elevator stuck?
The witness remembers that he started his ride
at the 4th floor, and went down 5 floors in the elevator. Realizing he was
at the wrong floor, he then went up 8 floors, where the elevator got stuck.
At
which floor is the elevator stuck?
Elevator = 4th
floor + (-5 floors) + (+8 floors)
Elevator = (-1 floors) + (+8 floors)
Elevator
= 7 floors
The elevator is stuck on the 7th floor.
You
think that the stuck elevator may have been overloaded. The capacity for the
elevator is 11 persons. The weight is calculated by estimating that each person
weighs 160 pounds. If the total mass in the stuck elevator is 1,960 pounds,
how many pounds over capacity is it?
11 persons x
160 pounds = 1,760 pounds
The elevator capacity is 1,760 pounds.
1,960
pounds - 1,760 pounds = 200 pounds
The elevator is 200 pounds over
capacity.
Repair technician Ronnie Race says math plays
a huge role in everyday elevator repair. He says elevator repair
technicians use "a lot of math. When you're in the engineering end of
it, you use algebra and calculus, geometry."