Question

Cayden has several screws on a scale, and the scale reads 80.955 g. Cayden adds 111 more screws, and the scale reads 84.81 g.

What is the mass of the last screw Cayden adds?

Answer 1

Answer: 0.03473 grams

Step-by-step explanation:

In this problem, we don't know how many screws there are, but we do know that when Cayden adds 111 more screws, the scale reads 84.81 grams

We can express the total mass of the screws after adding the 111 screws in terms of the mass of one screw. Let $\( m \)$ represent the mass of one screw. Then the total mass of the 111 screws is $\( 111m \)$.

The equation representing the total mass after adding the screws is:

$\[ 80.955 + 111m = 84.81 \]$

By solving this equation for $\( m \)$, we find the mass of one screw:

$\[ 111m = 84.81 - 80.955 \]$

$\[ 111m = 3.855 \]$

$\[ m = \frac{3.855}{111} \]$

Calculating this gives us $\( m \approx 0.03473 \)$ grams, which is the mass of one screw, and therefore also the mass of the last screw Cayden adds.