Michael is making a large batch of smoothies. The recipe calls for 4 strawberries for every banana. Michael used 55 pieces of fruit all together.

Question

What does 55 represent in this problem?
There are 55

Answer 1

In this problem, the number 55 represents the total number of pieces of fruit that Michael used, which includes both strawberries and bananas combined. To break it down, if there are 4 strawberries for every banana, you can represent the total number of strawberries and bananas using a mathematical expression:

Let \( b \) represent the number of bananas. Then the number of strawberries would be \( 4b \).

The equation that represents the total number of pieces of fruit would be: \[ b + 4b = 55 \] which simplifies to: \[ 5b = 55 \]

So, 55 represents the total count of fruits (strawberries plus bananas) that Michael used in making the smoothies.