Hi funfacts,
The answer is 50 lbs.
"Mr. Bates boutht 100 lbs. of potatoes that were 99% water. After the
potatoes were left outdoors for a day, they were 98% water. What was
the weight of the slightly dehydrated potatoes?"
Let the loss weight be x lb.
(99%)(100) - (98%)(100 - x) = x
(0.99)(100) - (0.98)(100 - x) = x
99 - (98 - 0.98x) = x
99 - 98 + 0.98x = x
1 + 0.98x = x
1 + 0.98x - 0.98x = x - 0.98x
1 = 0.02x
1 / 0.02 = 0.02x / 0.02
50 = x
100 - x = 100 - 50 = 50
The weight of the dehydrated potatoes was 50 lb.
Go Math
http://www.gomath.com/Questions/question.php?question=49081
"...we stated that potatoes are 99 percent water and 1 percent potato.
So, say you take a bunch of potatoes, like 100 pounds of potatoes, and
you set them out on your back porch to dry out. As they begin to dry
out, the water starts to evaporate. And after awhile enough water has
evaporated so that the potatoes are now 98 percent water. The question
was very simple, if you were to weigh those potatoes at that moment
when they are 98 percent water, how much would they weigh?"
(...)
"...Now if you do the math, 1 percent of a 100, which is what the
potato is, is one pound. As we told you, that's 1 percent. So 2
percent, when its 98 percent water, two percent of the new weight of
the mass is still going to be equal to that one pound, and 2 percent
of 50 pounds is a pound. So the potato weight is now 50 pounds, not
100."
Car Talk
http://www.cartalk.com/content/puzzler/transcripts/199626/answer.html
Potato Paradox
"You buy 100 pounds of potatoes and are told that they are 99% water.
After leaving them outside, you discover that they are now 98% water.
The weight of the dehydrated potatoes is then a surprising 50 pounds!"
REFERENCES:
Paulos, J. A. A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper. New York:
BasicBooks, p. 81, 1995.
Wolfram Research - Math World
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/PotatoParadox.html
Search criteria:
100 pounds potatoes 99% water weight
I hope this is helpful.
Best regards,
Rainbow |
