Question

Niel has a bucket of beads. He uses them to make 8 identical necklaces and then buys 25 beads at the store. He ends up with a total of 500 beads. How many did he start with? Identify the operations needed to solve this problem using the equation 8⋅x+25=500

a) 425 beads
b) 475 beads
c) 525 beads
d) 575 beads

Answer 1

To find the number of beads Niel started with, you subtract 25 from 500 and then divide the result by 8. The answer according to the given equation is 475 beads before he purchased the additional 25 beads, corresponding to choice b) 475 beads.

Step-by-step explanation:

The question asks us to determine how many beads Niel started with before he made 8 identical necklaces and bought 25 more beads. We can solve this by using the equation 8⋅x+25=500. To find the number of beads Neil started with, we need to subtract 25 from 500 and then divide by 8, which is the inverse of the operations expressed by the equation.

First, subtract 25 from 500:

• 500 - 25 = 475

Next, divide the result by 8 to find the number of beads per necklace (x):

• 475 ÷ 8 = 59.375

Since Niel can't have a fraction of a bead in a necklace, the problem may imply that there was a rounding or interpretation error here, or the question is hypothetical. In reality, if Niel indeed started with a whole number of beads, the division would have to result in a whole number as well. However, strictly following the given information and calculation, the number of beads he started with in this context would be 475 beads before purchasing the additional 25. After confirming, the closest correct answer would be choice (b) 475 beads.