Arlene read 30 pages. That is 10 pages more than half of the pages Taylor read. How many pages did Taylor read?

Write an equation in the form px+q=r
to represent this problem.

1 answer

Let \( x \) represent the number of pages Taylor read. According to the problem, half of the pages Taylor read is represented as \( \frac{x}{2} \).

Arlene read 30 pages, which is 10 pages more than half of the pages Taylor read. This relationship can be expressed in the following equation:

\[ \frac{x}{2} + 10 = 30 \]

To put this equation in the form \( px + q = r \), we can rearrange it. First, subtract 10 from both sides:

\[ \frac{x}{2} = 20 \]

Now, multiply both sides by 2 to eliminate the fraction:

\[ x = 40 \]

To represent the original equation in the form \( px + q = r \), we can multiply through by 2 to clear the fraction:

\[ x + 20 = 60 \]

Thus, the final equation in the required form is:

\[ 1x + 20 = 60 \]

This shows \( p = 1 \), \( q = 20 \), and \( r = 60 \).

So, Taylor read 40 pages.