Question

a family will rent a picnic shelter for $200 for a reunion. the cost of the shelter will be distributed equally among the people who plan to attend. the current cost per person will decrease by $1 if 10 more people plan to attend the reunion. how many people are currently planning to attend the reunion

Answer 1

40 people are currently planning to attend the reunion.

Explanation:

If we don't know how many people are coming, we can call that number x.

If those people split the cost ($200) it will be 200/x.

If 10 more people come, the head count is now x+10.

So the cost becomes 200/(x+10)

The cost when more people pitch in is less money per person. If fewer people split the cost its more per person. They are saying the difference here is $1.

So we can write an equation.

200/x = 200/(x+10) + 1

OR

200/x - 1 = 200/(x+10)

Cross multiply. This gives you a quadratic equation so factor to solve or use Quadratic Formula. See image. It shows how to solve by factoring.

see images. There are 2 images.