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Heavy Enough ?

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1. Bodo weighs 100 pounds more than his sister Nancy. Their combined weight is 160 pounds. How many pounds does Bodo weigh?
Answer: 130

Solution:

"Bodo weighs 130 pounds" is the correct answer. His sister weighs 30 pounds. Thus, Bodo weighs 100 pounds more than his sister and their combined weight is 160 as per the problem requirements.

The common mistake is to quickly jump to the conclusion that "Bodo weighs 100 pounds and his sister weighs 60 pounds." But, Bodo would then erroneously weigh 40 pounds more than his sister.

Alternative Solution through Equations:

Let b be Bodo's weight and s be his sister's weight. Then,

bs = 100; and
b + s = 160.

On solving the above two equations, we get

b = (100 + 160) / 2 = 130.

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