Question

For every 6 students who purchase a bag of M&M’s, there are 5 students who purchase a pack of gum. Use M for the number of students purchasing bags of M&M’s and G for the number students purchasing packs of gum, write an equation for this statement.

Answer 1

M/6 = G/5

Explanation:

We are given a relation between the numbers of students in two different groups. That relation can be used to write an equation.

Groups who bought M&Ms

If we consider M&M buyers to be 6 in a group, then the number of those groups is ...

M/6

Groups who bought gum

Similarly, the number of groups who bought gum will be ...

G/5

where there are 5 gum-buyers in each group.

Equation

The problem statement tells us that for each group of one kind, there is a matching group of the other kind. That is, the numbers of groups are equal:

M/6 = G/5