Question

Samuel is saving to buy a watch that costs $169.This is $48 More than 4 times what he saved last month.How much did he save last month.

Answer 1

He saved 30.25 last month. 169 - 48 = 121 divided by 4 = 30.25

Answer 2

Samuel saved $30.25 last month.

Explanation:

This problem can be solved by an equation, where x is the amount that Samuel saved last month.

You know that on one side of equality you have $ 169. What you should know is to what expression this value is matched.

For that, you should know that 4 times more than what Samuel saved means that what he has saved must be multiplied by 4. $ 48 more means that the above should be added $ 48. Therefore you can propose the following equation:

4*x+48=169

For this type of equation, you use the inverse operation to solve it.

The inverse operation of addition is subtraction, so you subtract 48 from both sides of equality, obtaining:

4*x+48-48=169-48

4*x=121

Now, the inverse operation of multiplication is division. So, you divide both sides by 4 and get:

`(4*x)/(4) =(121)/(4)`

x=30.25

So, Samuel saved $30.25 last month.