Chapter 1: 17 (page 28)

A rather ordinary middle-aged man is in the hospitalfor a routine checkup. The nurse writes “200” on the patient’smedical chart but forgets to include the units. Which of these quantities could the 200 plausibly represent? The patient’s (a) mass in kilograms; (b) height in meters; (c) height in centimeters;(d) height in millimeters; (e) age in months

Short Answer

Expert verified

Here, 200 can be the height of patient in centimeters.

Step by step solution

Units of Measurement

There are different unit for different measurement like mass is measured in kg, height is measure in m, cm or mm, and genrally age is measured in years.

Normally when we go for a check-up nurse takes our mass, height, and age.

Here we are also given several options, and we have to find the correct option from the following.

Explanation

Let us say we choose the value 200 as option A which is mass in kilograms, but it is not possible for a healthy middle-aged man to have a weight of 200 kg. It is more than average weight, so option A is not possible. The average weight of a healthy person lies between 60 kg to 90 kg. It changes depending upon the height.

Now, if we consider option B that is a height in meters, that also seems incorrect because the average human height lies in the range of 1.7 m to 2.2 m. The given option of 200 is impossible.

The average height of a human lies in the range of 180 cm to 220 cm; therefore, this option is incorrect.

The average height of a human lies in milimeter lies in the range of 1800 mm to 2200 mm; therefore, this is option is in correct.

An ordinary middle-aged man’s age lies in the range of 25 -50 year. Since the given option of 200 months which is around 16.67 year. This is the age of young boy. Thus, this option is incorrect.

Thus, the 200 is the height of the man in centimeter.