Question

Write an algebraic expression for this word problem

Author Jules Verne's fictional submarine, the Nautilus, traveled under the sea 20,000
leagues. Let 1 mile equal x leagues. How many miles did the Nautilus travel?

Answer 1

Let the distance traveled by the Nautilus in miles be represented by the variable d.

We know that 1 mile equals x leagues. Therefore, the distance traveled in leagues can be expressed as 20,000 leagues.

To find the distance traveled in miles, we can set up the following equation:

d miles = (20,000 leagues) / x leagues per mile

Simplifying this expression by substituting x = 1 mile/ x leagues, we get:

d miles = (20,000 leagues) * (1 mile / x leagues)

Thus, the algebraic expression for this word problem is:

d = 20,000 / x

where d represents the distance traveled in miles and x represents the number of leagues in one mile.