Final answer:
Pedro spent 38 minutes on his language arts homework, which was twice the time he spent on math homework. By setting up and solving the equation 3x = 57, where x represents the minutes spent on math, we find x to be 19, so the language arts homework time is 2x, which is 38 minutes.
Step-by-step explanation:
The student is presented with a word problem involving Pedro's homework routine. Pedro spent a total of 57 minutes on both math and language arts homework. To solve the problem, we need to define two different time spans for math and language arts homework. Let's denote the time spent on math homework as x minutes. According to the problem, the language arts homework took twice as long, meaning the time spent on language arts homework is 2x minutes.
We know the total time spent on both subjects is 57 minutes, so we have the equation x + 2x = 57. Adding x and 2x results in 3x, so the equation now reads 3x = 57. Dividing both sides by 3, we get x = 19. Therefore, Pedro spent 19 minutes on math homework. Since the language arts homework took twice as long, we multiply 19 minutes by 2 to get 38 minutes, which is the time Pedro spent on his language arts homework.
The correct answer is (b) 38 minutes.