Question

A botanist was measuring how tall her plant grew. After two weeks it had grown 12.93 inches.The second week alone it had grown 3.43 inches! How much did it grow the first week?

Answer 1

9.5 inches

Explanation:

The relationship is presumed to be ...

(first week's growth) + (second week's growth) = (growth in two weeks)

(first week's growth) + 3.43 inches = 12.93 inches . . . . . fill in the numbers

Subtract 3.43 from both sides of the equation:

first week's growth = 12.93 inches - 3.43 inches

first week's growth = 9.50 inches

The plant grew 9.50 inches in the first week.