Question

Bill has x apples in his basket. Juan has 3 less than 4 times more than bill. Write an equation to represent the total number of apples (y) in their combined baskets.

Answer 1

5x - 3 = y

Explanation:

Bill's apples are represented by x, and Juan's amount in this case can be represented by j for now.

The equation would be

x + j = y

x doesn't ave a clear value and its only asking for the equation, so we don't have to assign a number to it.

The equation says that Juan has four times more than Bill, or x. It also says that he has three less. This can be shown, step by step, as

4 * x, or 4x (four times more, so you multiply Bill's amount by 4)

4x - 3 (three less, so you take 3 from the equation)

So now, Juan's amount, or j, equals that amount

4x - 3 = j

Now that there's an established value for y and a like term (terms or numbers with the same variable, like 12x and 3x), we can plug it into our original equation, which was:

x + j = y

So it becomes:

x + (4x - 3) = y

Now its just a matter of combining those like terms:

4x + x = 5x

Which makes the final solution:

5x - 3 = y

Don't worry that there are still variables in the equation, as the question is only asking for an equation and not a value.