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Heavy Enough ?

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1. Bodo weighs 60 pounds more than his sister Sharon. Their combined weight is 100 pounds. How many pounds does Bodo weigh?
Answer: 80

Solution:

"Bodo weighs 80 pounds" is the correct answer. His sister weighs 20 pounds. Thus, Bodo weighs 60 pounds more than his sister and their combined weight is 100 as per the problem requirements.

The common mistake is to quickly jump to the conclusion that "Bodo weighs 60 pounds and his sister weighs 40 pounds." But, Bodo would then erroneously weigh 20 pounds more than his sister.

Alternative Solution through Equations:

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

bs = 60; and
b + s = 100.

On solving the above two equations, we get

b = (60 + 100) / 2 = 80.

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