Question

The volleyball team and the wrestling team at Belmont High School are having a joint car wash today, and they are splitting the revenues. The volleyball team gets $2 per car. In addition, they have already brought in $40 from past fundraisers. The wrestling team has raised $50 in the past, and they are making $1 per car today. After washing a certain number of cars together, each team will have raised the same amount in total. How many cars will that take?

Hint: Write the equations first, then use the DESMOS calculator to find where the lines intersect.

Answer 1

10 cars

Explanation:

volleyball team = past money + money from car wash = 40 + 2 per car = 40 + 2 * number of cars

wrestling team = past money + money from car wash = 50 + 1 * number of cars

set the two equal to each other because they raise the same amount

40 + 2 * number of cars = 50 + 1 * number of cars

set number of cars to n

40 + 2n = 50 + n

subtract n from both sides to put all the variables on one side

40 + n = 50

subtract 40 from both sides to find n

n = 10