a Every equation has an equals sign and values or expressions on either side of the equals sign. Key phrases such as is,is equal to,equals, or in this case, was, tell us about the placement of the equals sign.
The number of pizza slices sold =
20 less than twice the number of burritos
On the left-hand side we have the number of pizza slices sold, which we can assign an arbitrary variable to. We will choose p as our variable.
p = &20 less than twice
&the number of burritos
On the right-hand side, the key words are less than and twice the number. These words tell us the operations that will be used in our equation. Less than indicates subtraction, while twice the number indicates multiplication. If we call the number of burritos b, we can write the right-hand side of the equation.
p = 20 less than twice
the number of burritos
p = 2b - 20
As for the second equation, we know that $ 358 was collected. However, we do not know how many pizza slices, p, and burritos, b, were sold. If a pizza slice costs $2.50, we can create an expression describing the cost of p pizza slices.
2.50p dollars
By the same reasoning, if a burrito costs $3, we will pay 3b dollars for b burritos. The sum of these expressions should equal $358.
2.50p+3b=358
By combining these we get the following system of equations.
p=2b-20 2.50p+3b=358
b To solve the system of equations from Part A we can use the Substitution Method, as the first equation is already solved for p.
