Question

Pam recently started selling custom t-shirts online. She spent $504 on screen-printing tools, and she spends $4.50 per shirt on supplies. She is selling each shirt for $15. Which equation can you use to find the number of t-shirts Pam must sell for her sales to equal her expenses?

1) 15s = 504 + 4.50s
2) 15s = 504 - 4.50s
3) 15s = 504 / 4.50s
4) 15s = 504 * 4.50s

Answer 1

The number of t-shirts Pam must sell to break even is determined by the equation 15s = 504 + 4.50s, where 's' represents the number of shirts sold.

Step-by-step explanation:

To determine the number of t-shirts Pam must sell for her sales to equal her expenses, we need an equation that takes into account both her initial investment and the cost to make each shirt versus the sale price of the shirts. Her initial investment is $504, and she spends $4.50 on supplies for each shirt. Pam sells each shirt for $15. Therefore, the equation needed to find the break-even point, where sales equal expenses, would be the total cost of supplies plus the initial investment equals the total revenue from selling the shirts.

The correct equation that represents this situation is:
15s = 504 + 4.50s

Here, s represents the number of shirts sold, 15s is the total revenue from selling s shirts at $15 each, and 504 + 4.50s represents the total expenses which is the sum of the initial investment ($504) and the cost of supplies for s shirts at $4.50 each.