Final answer:
To find how many bottles must have been in the box, set up an equation: 3.50x = 56.00, where x represents the number of bottles.
Step-by-step explanation:
Jane took a box of bottles from her grandparents' basement to an antique shop, which offers $3.50 for each bottle from before 1940. She received $56.00 in total.
To find out how many bottles must have been in the box, we can set up an equation.
Let's assume there were 'x' bottles in the box.
The amount of money Jane received ($56.00) is equal to the number of bottles (x) multiplied by the price offered per bottle before 1940 ($3.50).
So, the equation would be: 3.50x = 56.00.
To solve for 'x', we can divide both sides of the equation by 3.50. This gives us x = 16.
Therefore, there must have been 16 bottles in the box.