Question

For a school project, Derek is investigating cell phone use in his hometown, Somerville. So far, he has found that the residents of Somerville used their cell phones for 11,609 minutes this year. Compared to last year, that is 30% more. For how many minutes did the residents of Somerville use their cell phones last year?

Answer 1

Therefore, the residents of Somerville used their cell phones for approximately 8,930 minutes last year.

Explanation:

To find out how many minutes the residents of Somerville used their cell phones last year, we can use the information given that this year's cell phone usage is 30% more than last year's.

Let's assume the cell phone usage last year was represented by the variable "x" (in minutes).

Answer 2

Therefore, the residents of Somerville used their cell phones for approximately 8,930 minutes last year.

Explanation:

To find out how many minutes the residents of Somerville used their cell phones last year, we can use the information given that this year's cell phone usage is 30% more than last year's.

Let's assume the cell phone usage last year was represented by the variable "x" (in minutes).

According to the information given, this year's cell phone usage is 30% more than last year's, so we can express this as:

x + 0.3x = 11609

Combining like terms, we have:

1.3x = 11609

To isolate the variable, we divide both sides of the equation by 1.3:

x = 11609 / 1.3

Simplifying the calculation, we find:

x ≈ 8930