Question

Write and solve an equation for the following word problem. Define your variable.

5. Lynn earns $100 a day plus $0.25 for each piece of clothes she sells. How many pieces of clothes did she
sell if she earned $118.50 on Monday?
Variable:
Equation:
Solution:
Work: ​

Answer 1

The variable is the number of clothes sold 'x'.

The equation is:
`118.50=100+0.25x`

The number of clothes sold by Lynn are 74.

Explanation:

Let the number of pieces of clothes sold be 'x'.

Given:

Earning of Lynn per cloth is $0.25.

Fixed earning of Lynn per day is $100

Total earning after selling 'x' clothes is $118.50.

Variable: Number of clothes 'x'.

Equation:

Earning of Lynn for 1 cloth = $0.25

∴ Earning of Lynn for 'x' clothes =
`0.25* x=0.25x`

Now, total earning of Lynn is the sum of fixed earning and earning from selling 'x' clothes. Therefore,

Total earning = Fixed earning + Earning for 'x' clothes

⇒
`118.50=100+0.25x`

Solution:

Add -100 both sides and then divide the result by 0.25 both sides. This gives,

`118.50-100=100-100+0.25x\\0.25x=18.50\\x=(18.50)/(0.25)=74`

Therefore, the number of clothes sold by Lynn are 74.