Final answer:
The equation to model the problem is 3q = 45, which when solved by dividing both sides by 3, yields q = 15 questions. This indicates that there are 15 questions on the quiz.
Step-by-step explanation:
In mathematics, when we are presented with a problem that includes variables and constants, we can create an equation to model the problem. In this specific case, Mr. Smith gave his students a math quiz where each question is worth 3 points and the total value of the quiz is 45 points. Let's denote q as the number of questions. To represent this situation algebraically, we use the equation 3q = 45.
Next, we solve the equation 3q = 45 to find the value of q. We divide both sides of the equation by 3, which gives us q = 45 / 3. Solving this, we find that q = 15. So, the number of questions on the quiz is 15 questions.