Real Life Situation
Imagine you are planning a fundraising event for your local community center to support youth programs. You decide to sell tickets at a cost of $8 each. You also decide that for every ticket sold, you need to allocate $9 for refreshments, decoration, and other expenses. If you want to raise a total of $144 from ticket sales after covering those costs, how many tickets do you need to sell?
Setting Up the Equation
To find how many tickets (x) you need to sell, you can set up the equation as follows:
- Each ticket sells for $8, and there are extra costs of $9 per ticket.
- The total amount you want to raise (after expenses) is $144.
This can be modeled with the equation:
\[ 8(x + 9) = 144 \]
Solving the Equation
We will solve the equation in two different ways.
Method 1: Distributing and Solving
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Distribute 8 across the terms in the parentheses:
\[ 8x + 72 = 144 \]
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Subtract 72 from both sides:
\[ 8x = 144 - 72 \] \[ 8x = 72 \]
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Divide by 8:
\[ x = \frac{72}{8} \] \[ x = 9 \]
This means you need to sell 9 tickets.
Method 2: Isolating x First
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Start with the original equation:
\[ 8(x + 9) = 144 \]
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Divide both sides by 8:
\[ x + 9 = \frac{144}{8} \] \[ x + 9 = 18 \]
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Subtract 9 from both sides:
\[ x = 18 - 9 \] \[ x = 9 \]
Again, we find that you need to sell 9 tickets.
Conclusion
Both methods yield the same result, \( x = 9 \).
Preferred Method
I personally preferred Method 2: Isolating x First because it is often quicker to manipulate the equation in a straightforward way by simplifying on both sides. It allows for a clearer understanding of the relationship between the variables and directly leads to the solution without having to deal with the additional distribution step initially. Additionally, this method often minimizes potential errors in calculations by reducing the number of operations performed in each step.