The equation \(3x = 24\) can be interpreted in the context of the given scenarios:
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Rita bought stickers and divided them among herself and two other friends. Each one received 24 stickers. How many stickers did Rita buy?
- Here, if Rita divided the stickers equally among three people (Rita and two friends), then each receiving 24 stickers would imply she bought a total of \(3 \times 24 = 72\) stickers. This scenario can be represented by the equation \(3x = 72\) (where \(x = 24\)), not \(3x = 24\).
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A survey was conducted to determine the favorite subject of seventh-grade students. One-third of all surveyed, or 24 students, said math is their favorite subject. How many students were surveyed?
- If one-third of the students surveyed equals 24, we can express this as \(\frac{1}{3} \times \text{total students} = 24\). This does not directly correspond to \(3x = 24\).
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The cost of a pair of shoes is three times the cost of a shirt. If the cost of the shirt is $24, how much does the pair of shoes cost?
- In this case, if the shirt costs $24, then the shoes cost \(3 \times 24 = 72\), which is again not represented by \(3x = 24\).
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Andrew picks three words from a dictionary every week and lists them in his notebook. So far, he has listed 24 words. How many weeks has Andrew been doing this?
- If Andrew picks 3 words per week and has a total of 24 words, then the scenario can be expressed as \(3x = 24\) where \(x\) represents the number of weeks Andrew has been picking words (in this case, \(x = 8\) weeks).
The only scenario that is represented by the equation \(3x = 24\) is:
Andrew picks three words from a dictionary every week and lists them in his notebook. So far, he has listed 24 words. How many weeks has Andrew been doing this?