Question

Ms. Pryce has 82 books. She puts 10 of them in her desk. The rest will go in her bookcases.

One bookcase has 2 shelves, and the other has 4 shelves. Write and solve an equation to find
s, the number of books Ms. Pryce should put on each shelf so that each has the same
number of books.

Answer 1

12 books per shelf

Explanation:

She has 82 books and ten of them go to her desk. So she has 72 books left to to put on her shelves. There are a total of 6 selves.

So (72 books) / (6 shelves) = 12 books per shelves.

General equation:

{(total number of books) - (books go to her desk) ] / (total number of shelves)

s = number of books on shelves

t = total number of books

d = books on desk

x = number of selves

s = (t-d) / x