Here is a diagram and its corresponding equation. Find the solution to the equation and explain your reasoning.
4x+17=23
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x=121. Sample explanation: The diagram and equation show that 4 groups plus 17 more equals a total of 23. If we take aways the 17 more, we have 4 groups that equal a total of 6, and 46=121.
Write an equation for each story. Then find the number of problems originally assigned by each teacher. If you get stuck, try drawing a diagram to represent the story.
Five students came for after-school tutoring. Lin’s teacher assigned each of them the same number of problems to complete. Then he assigned each student 2 more problems. In all, 30 problems were assigned.
Five students came for after-school tutoring. Priya’s teacher assigned each of them the same number of problems to complete. Then she assigned 2 more problems to one of the students. In all, 27 problems were assigned.
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5(x+2)=30 (or equivalent), solution: x=4; The teacher originally assigned 4 problems to each student.
5x+2=27 (or equivalent), solution: x=5; The teacher originally assigned 5 problems to each student.
Solve each equation. Explain or show your reasoning.
8.88=4.44(x−7)
5(y+52)=-13
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x=9. Sample reasoning: After dividing both sides by 4.44, the equation is 2=x−7. After adding 7 to both sides, the equation is x=9.
y=-3. Sample reasoning: After distributing the 5, the equation is 5y+2=-13. After subtracting 2 from each side, it is 5y=-15. After dividing both sides by 5, it is y=-3.
Diego scored 9 points less than Andre in the basketball game. Noah scored twice as many points as Diego. If Noah scored 10 points, how many points did Andre score? Explain or show your reasoning.
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14 points. Sample reasoning:
Equation: 2(x−9)=10, where x is the number of points scored by Andre. x−9=5, x=14.
Reasoning: Diego scored half as many points as Noah, so he scored 5 points. Andre scored 9 points more than Diego, or 14 points.
Diagram: One possibility is two boxes each with x−9 showing a total of 10. Each box represents 5 points, so x is 14.
The track team is trying to reduce their time for a relay race. First, they reduce their time by 2.1 minutes. Then they are able to reduce that time by 101. If their final time is 3.96 minutes, what was their beginning time? Show or explain your reasoning.
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6.5 minutes. Sample reasoning:
With equation: 0.9(x−2.1)=3.96, x−2.1=4.4, x=6.5.
Reasoning with or without a diagram: 9 out of 10 parts represent 3.96 minutes, so the 101 reduction was 3.96÷9 or 0.44 minutes. That makes the time before the 2.1 minute reduction 3.96+0.44 or 4.4 minutes. The original time was 4.4+2.1, or 6.5 minutes.
Andre is making paper cranes to decorate for a party. He plans to make one large paper crane for a centerpiece and several smaller paper cranes to put around the table. It takes Andre 10 minutes to make the centerpiece and 3 minutes to make each small crane. He will only have 30 minutes to make the paper cranes once he gets home.
Andre wrote the inequality 3x+10≤30 to plan his time. Describe how this inequality represents the situation.
Solve Andre’s inequality, and explain what the solution means.
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Sample response: The variable x represents the number of small paper cranes Andre can make. 3x is the amount of time it takes to make x small cranes. 10 is the number of minutes it takes to make the centerpiece. 30 is Andre’s time limit in minutes.
x≤632. Sample response: Andre can make up to 6 small cranes.
Elena is trying to create a playlist that lasts no more than 2 hours (120 minutes). She has already added songs that total 15 minutes. She reads that the average song length on her music streaming service is 3.5 minutes. Elena writes the inequality 3.5x+15≥120 and solves it to find the solution x≥30.
Explain how you know Elena made a mistake based on her solution.
Fix Elena’s inequality and explain what each part of the inequality means.
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Sample response: x≥30 means Elena can add more than 30 songs on the playlist. This doesn’t make sense because there should be a maximum limit on songs rather than a minimum limit.
The correct inequality is 3.5x+15≤120. The number 3.5 represents the average length of each song. The variable x represents the number of songs that Elena adds. The 15 represents the 15 minutes of songs that are already on the playlist. The ≤120 represents that the total number of minutes has to be less than or equal to 120.