In an article about exercise, it is estimated that a 160-pound adult uses 200 calories for every 30 minutes of hiking and 150 calories for every 30 minutes of bicycling. An adult who weighs 160 pounds has completed 1 hour of bicycling. Based on the article, how many hours should the adult hike to use a total of 1,900 calories from bicycling and hiking?
9.5
8.75
6
4
Choice D is correct. Since a 160-pound adult uses 200 calories for every 30 minutes of hiking, then the same adult uses calories after hiking for h 30-minute periods. Similarly, the same adult uses
calories after bicycling for b 30-minute periods. Therefore, the equation
represents the situation where a 160-pound adult uses a total of 1,900 calories from hiking for h 30-minute periods and bicycling for b 30-minute periods. It’s given that the adult completes 1 hour, or 2 30-minute periods, of bicycling. Substituting 2 for b in the equation
yields
, or
. Subtracting 300 from both sides of this equation yields
. Dividing both sides by 200 yields
. Since h represents the number of 30-minute periods spent hiking and there are 2 30-minute periods in every hour, it follows that the adult will need to hike for
, or 4 hours to use a total of 1,900 calories from bicycling and hiking.
Choice A is incorrect and may result from solving the equation . This represents 0 30-minute periods bicycling instead of 2. Choice B is incorrect and may result from solving the equation
. This represents 1 30-minute period of bicycling instead of 2. Choice C is incorrect. This may result from determining that the number of 30-minute periods the adult should hike is 8, but then subtracting 2 from 8, rather than dividing 8 by 2, to find the number of hours the adult should hike.