A manatee eats the equivalent of about 12% if it's body weight each day

What is an equation that represents the amount of food a manatee eats each day for its weight?

First, write a statement to define your unknown variable. This is technically not essential to solving the problem, but many teachers prefer to see it.

Example: Let w = the manatee's weight in pounds.

Next, decide what the variable needs to be multiplied by. 12% is equal to 0.12. Usually when a problem says "of," it wants you to multiply. Therefore, 12% of the body weight equals 0.12w. Since the problem already says that this is how much the manatee eats every day, that is your answer.

y = 0.12w