Lena sells earrings from a booth at the arts fair. She pays $200 to rent the booth. She makes $5 from each pair of earrings she sells.

Her profit, P, can be found using the following equation, where n is the number of pairs of earrings sold.
(2 points)
Write an equation:

How many pairs of earrings must Lena sell to earn a profit of $450?
pairs.

1 answer

To find Lena's profit, we can set up the equation based on her expenses and earnings.

Lena's profit \( P \) can be expressed with the equation:

\[ P = 5n - 200 \]

where:

  • \( P \) is the profit,
  • \( n \) is the number of pairs of earrings sold,
  • \( 5n \) is the total earnings from selling \( n \) pairs of earrings ($5 for each pair),
  • \( 200 \) is the booth rental cost.

To find out how many pairs of earrings she must sell to earn a profit of $450, we set \( P \) to 450 and solve for \( n \):

\[ 450 = 5n - 200 \]

Now, add 200 to both sides:

\[ 450 + 200 = 5n \]

\[ 650 = 5n \]

Next, divide by 5:

\[ n = \frac{650}{5} \]

\[ n = 130 \]

Therefore, Lena must sell 130 pairs of earrings to earn a profit of $450.