Question

At the first prenatal visit a client weighed 140 pounds. At the second visit the client had a \(5 \%\) weight increase. How many pounds did the client gain?

Short answer

The client gained 7 pounds.

Step-by-step solution

Understand the Problem

Identify the original weight and the percentage increase. The original weight is 140 pounds and the percentage increase is 5%.

Convert Percentage to Decimal

To find the weight increase, convert the percentage to a decimal by dividing by 100. Thus, 5% becomes 0.05 as a decimal.

Calculate Weight Increase

Multiply the original weight by the decimal to find the weight increase: \( 140 \times 0.05 = 7 \) pounds. So, the client gained 7 pounds.

Key concepts

Percentage Calculations

Percentage calculations are used to express a number as a fraction of 100. This is a common concept in mathematics that allows us to easily understand how one quantity relates to another.
Let's break it down into simpler terms:

• Consider a whole divided into 100 equal parts. If you take any number of these parts, you have a percentage of the whole.
• For example, 5% means 5 parts out of 100, or one-twentieth of the whole.
• To convert a percentage to a decimal, simply divide by 100. This changes the percentage into a form that can be readily used in calculations. For instance, converting 5% to a decimal gives you 0.05.

Once you've got the decimal, you can use it in multiplication to find out what portion of a quantity corresponds to a certain percentage.

Prenatal Care Calculations

During pregnancy, tracking changes such as weight gain is crucial. These changes can indicate both normal growth and potential health issues.
In this exercise, tracking the weight change from one prenatal visit to the next is simplified by using percentage calculations. Here’s why that’s important:

• By knowing how percentage increase works, a healthcare provider can easily monitor a mother’s health by comparing it to standard growth parameters.
• Increases in weight during pregnancy can be healthy or unhealthy, depending on a variety of factors. Therefore, understanding this principle helps ensure the health of both the mother and the baby.

Knowing how to calculate increases efficiently can make a big difference in prenatal care, where time and precision are essential.

Basic Arithmetic Operations

Basic arithmetic operations, such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, are foundational to math problem solving. These operations serve not only for calculation but also for understanding more complex mathematical ideas.
In the context of this exercise:

• Multiplication is used to calculate the weight gain by multiplying the original weight by the decimal equivalent of the percentage increase.
• This method provides a quick and accurate way to determine numerical changes, like weight increase, without the need for more complex equations.

When you understand how to apply these basic operations, it becomes much easier to solve mathematical problems efficiently and accurately.