Final answer:
To find the total number of miles Trip and Lindsey travel to and from school each week, we can use the distributive property and the greatest common factor. Trip walks x miles to and from school, Lindsey rides her bike y miles, and the equation is 2(x + y) = 68. Solving for x + y, we get 34 miles.
Step-by-step explanation:
To find the total number of miles Trip and Lindsey travel to and from school each week, we can use the distributive property and the greatest common factor. Let's say Trip walks x miles to and from school, and Lindsey rides her bike y miles to and from school. The total distance for Trip is then 2x (since Trip goes to and from school), and the total distance for Lindsey is 2y (since Lindsey also goes to and from school). We know that 2x + 2y = 12 + 56 = 68 miles. Now we can factor out 2 from both terms: 2(x + y) = 68. Divide both sides by 2 to solve for x + y: x + y = 34. So, the total number of miles Trip and Lindsey travel to and from school each week is 34 miles.