Question

The Thomas family likes to visit Everglades National Park, the largest tropical wilderness in the U.S., which partially covers the Miami-Dade, Monroe, and Collier counties in Florida. They hold an annual pass that cost $40.00. Each canoe rental costs $26.00 and each bicycle rental costs $15.00. Use an algebraic expression to describe how much they spend in a year based on the annual pass, the number of canoes rentals, and the number of bicycle rentals. Identify the parts of the expression by underlining the coefficient(s), circling the constant(s), and drawing a box around the variable(s).

Answer 1

z = 40 + 26.00x + 15.00y

Coefficients: 26.00, 15.00

Constant: 40

Variables: z, x, y

Explanation:

Let x be the number of canoe rentals and y be the number of bicycle rentals.

(The family can hold only one annual pass, so we don't need a variable for that. Rather, we'll use a "constant." But the number of bicycle/canoe rentals can change!)

Let z be how much the family spends in a year.

The family spends $26 for each canoe rental, so

26.00x for x canoe rentals

Similarly, 15.00y for y canoe rentals

So z = 40 + 26.00x + 15.00y

The coefficients are the 26.00 and the 15.00. Coefficients are the numbers attached to the variables.

The constant is 40. A constant is a number by itself.

The variables are z, x, and y. Variables are our unknowns.