Question

John is buying pots; small pots are priced at m dollars each, and he spent b dollars on big pots. The expression for total spending on x small pots is mi + b. If the value of small pots, m dollars, is tripled, what effect does it have on the expression?

A. The expression becomes 3mi + b.
B. The expression becomes mi + 3b.
C. The expression becomes 3(mi + b).
D. The expression remains unchanged.

Answer 1

Tripling the cost of small pots from m to 3m in the expression mi + b would result in a new expression: 3mx + b, which is option A. The number of small pots x remains constant, and the spending on big pots b is unchanged.

Step-by-step explanation:

The student's question involves an algebraic expression that represents the total spending on pots. Initially, the expression is mi + b, where m represents the cost of one small pot, i is the number of small pots (though there seems to be a typo, as it should be x instead of i), and b is the total spending on big pots.

If the cost of small pots (m) is tripled, the new cost for one small pot is 3m. Therefore, the spending on x small pots at the new price would be 3m multiplied by x (3mx). The expression for John's total spending becomes 3mx + b, which corresponds to option A.