Question

At a store, each ear of corn costs the same amount of money. The table shows thecost to purchase different amounts of corn. Which equation can be used to determine the total cost, t, to purchase n ears of corn?

Answer 1

Take into account that the relation in between the number of ears of corn n, and the total cost t, is a proportional relation, that can be written as follow:

t = kn

where k is the consatnt of proportionality.

To calculate k, solve for it inthe previous equation:

k = t/n

then, use any pair of values fro t and n from the table, for instance, t = 1.80 and n = 4 and replace them into the previus expression for k:

k = 1.80/4

k = 0.45

next, replace the previous value of k into the formula t = kn:

t = 0.45n

this is the equation to determine the total cost t, in term of the total number of ears of corn.