Math 7B. Pattering and Algebraic Reasoning. Spring25 Sample work

Question

Question 5
Trent's fish tank can hold 48 liters of water. There are currently 9 liters of water in the fish tank. Trent adds 1.5 liters of water to the fish tank each minute until it is full. The equation 1.5m + 9 = 48 can be used to represent this situation, where m is the number of minutes the Trent add water to the fish tank.
How many minutes does it take Trent to fill his fish tank?
Complete the following steps to answer the question.
Subtract 9 from both sides of the equation.
1.5= _____
Divide both sides by 1.5.
m= _____
It will take ____ minutes to fill his fish tank.

Answer 1

To solve the equation \(1.5m + 9 = 48\) step by step, let's follow the instructions provided:

1. Subtract 9 from both sides of the equation:

   \[ 1.5m + 9 - 9 = 48 - 9 \] This simplifies to:

   \[ 1.5m = 39 \]

   So, the answer to the first step is \(39\).

2. Divide both sides by 1.5:

   \[ \frac{1.5m}{1.5} = \frac{39}{1.5} \] This simplifies to:

   \[ m = 26 \]

   So, the answer to the second step is \(26\).

3. Conclusion:

   It will take \(26\) minutes for Trent to fill his fish tank.

So the completed answers are:

• \(1.5 = 39\)
• \(m = 26\)
• It will take \(26\) minutes to fill his fish tank.