www.VirtualNerd.com

How Do You Write an Equation from a Word Problem?

Amit and Betty work at the algebra Inn, a restaurant known for its complicated contracts. Amit’s contract says he gets paid a dollar amount equal to twice the sum of Amit’s hours and two times Betty’s hours plus one half of Betty’s hours squared plus two times the sum of Amit’s hours and three times Betty’s hours. Write an equation for the amount of dollars Amit gets paid.

Summary

  1. 'm' is the variable that represents the total amount of money that Amit is paid
  2. 'a' is the variable that represents the amount of hours that Amit works at the Algebra Inn
  3. 'b' is the variable that represents the amount of hours that Betty works at the Algebra Inn

Notes

    1. 'm' is the variable that represents the total amount of money that Amit is paid
    1. 'a' is the variable that represents the amount of hours that Amit works at the Algebra Inn
    2. 'b' is the variable that represents the amount of hours that Betty works at the Algebra Inn
    1. '...paid a dollar amount...' is just our variable for Amit's money, 'm'
    2. 'equal to' is just that, the equals sign
    1. Amit's hours, 'a', and then add, '+', two times Betty's hours, '2b'
    2. The problem says, 'twice the sum', so multiply what we have by 2
    1. Take Betty's hours, 'b', and square it, then take one half of that
    2. 'Plus' means that we are performing addition, so put an addition sign in front
    1. Take Amit's hours, 'a', plus three times Betty's hours, '3b'
    2. Multiply that sum by '2'
    3. 'Plus' means that we are performing addition, so put an addition sign in front
    1. 'm' is the variable that represents the total amount of money that Amit is paid
    2. 'a' is the variable that represents the amount of hours that Amit works at the Algebra Inn
    3. 'b' is the variable that represents the amount of hours that Betty works at the Algebra Inn