Movie Theatre A has a popcorn machine with a 120-gallon capacity. It sells 7 gallons of popcorn per hour. Movie Theatre B has a popcorn machine with a 150-gallon capacity. It sells 9 gallons of popcorn per hour. Write and solve an equation to show when the two popcorn machines will have the same amount of popcorn left

1 answer

Let's say the number of hours is represented by 'h'.

After 'h' hours, the amount of popcorn remaining in Movie Theatre A will be 120 - 7h gallons.

After 'h' hours, the amount of popcorn remaining in Movie Theatre B will be 150 - 9h gallons.

To find when the two popcorn machines will have the same amount of popcorn left, we set the expressions equal to each other:

120 - 7h = 150 - 9h

To solve for 'h', we will isolate the 'h' term:

-7h + 9h = 150 - 120

2h = 30

Dividing both sides by 2:

h = 15

Therefore, after 15 hours, both Movie Theatre A and Movie Theatre B will have the same amount of popcorn left.