I need help with solving this equation.
Today, the Lincoln school has 400 pkgs. of paper and the Washington school has 300 pkgs.
Each week 12 packages of paper are used at the Lincoln school. Let n equal the number of weeks that have passed since today. Write an equation to represent the number of packages,y,left in the school after n weeks.
How do I figure out the equation for this problem.
Hello treblemaker:
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Here are some hints about your exercise.
First of all, the instructions ask about what's happening at the Lincoln school. Therefore, we can ignore the information highlighted in red above.
Secondly, they've given us specific symbols to use for the quantities which vary (number of packages and number of weeks).
Let n = the number of weeks that have elapsed (starting today)
Let y = the number of paper packages at the Lincoln school (after n weeks have elapsed)
From the given information, it should be clear that y = 400 when n = 0.
From the given information, it should be clear that y is reduced by 12 each week.
What happens to the 400 packages, after one week? Answer: it goes down by 12.
400 - (1)(12) = 388
In other words, we subtract 12 from 400 once.
What happens to the 400 packages, after two weeks? Answer: it goes down by 24.
400 - (2)(12) = 376
In other words, we subtract 12 from 400 twice.
What happens to the 400 packages, after three weeks? Answer: it goes down by 36.
400 - (3)(12) = 364
In other words, we subtract 12 from 400 three times.
What happens to the 400 packages, after n weeks?
Show us what you think.
Cheers :cool:
