Question

If you currently have $300 set aside for the trip and you’re only able to save $75 a week, write an inequality representing how much you need to save if x is the number of weeks.

Answer 1

We'll let x represent the number of weeks it will take to save enough money. If she saves $11 each week, then in x weeks she will save 11x dollars.

Add this to the 107 she has already saved, and at the end of 11 weeks she will have 11x + 107 dollars.

We want the amount saved to be equal to the price of the bike, so our equation is

11x + 107 = 173

In a word problem, writing the equation is usually the hardest part. Now we solve the equation.

Subtract 107 from both sides to get

11x = 66

Divide both sides by 11 to get

x = 6 weeks.