Chapter 1, Problem 14P

To determine

A person’s height in meters and mass in kg.

Answer to Problem 14P

A typical person’s height is 1.7 m and a typical person’s mass is 54.5 kg.

Explanation of Solution

Given:

Assuming a typical person is around 5.5 feet tall and weighs around 120 pounds.

Formula used:

1 feet equals 30.48 centimeters and one meter equals 100 centimeters.

Around 2.2 pounds equals 1 kg

Calculation:

The height of a person in meters is:

Now, as the height in feet was expressed in 2 significant figures, so round off the value to two significant figures.

$\therefore \text{H}=17\text{m}$

The mass of a person in kg is:

$M=120\text{lb}\times \frac{1\text{kg}}{2.2\text{lb}}=54.5454\text{kg}$

Now, as the original mass in pounds was given in three significant figures, so round off the value to three significant figures

$\therefore \text{M}=54.5\text{kg}$

Conclusion:

A typical person’s height is 1.7 m and mass is 54.5 kg.