Question

Carmen's school is having a spring carnival. When Carmen carries a bin of water balloons outside for the balloon toss, she trips and breaks 11 balloons. She counts the remaining water balloons, and there are 13 left.
Which equation can you use to find the number of water balloons w in the bin before Carmen trips?
Solve this equation for w to find the number of water balloons in the bin.
water balloons

Answers

GPT-4o mini
To find the number of water balloons \( w \) in the bin before Carmen trips, we can set up the equation based on the information given.

1. Let \( w \) be the initial number of water balloons in the bin.
2. Carmen breaks 11 balloons, so the number of remaining balloons will be \( w - 11 \).
3. After breaking the balloons, Carmen counts 13 remaining water balloons.

The equation can be set up as follows:

\[
w - 11 = 13
\]

Now, let's solve for \( w \):

1. Add 11 to both sides of the equation:

\[
w - 11 + 11 = 13 + 11
\]

2. This simplifies to:

\[
w = 24
\]

So, the number of water balloons in the bin before Carmen trips is **24**.

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