A horse trainer has a bag of pink sugar mints for horse treats. She needs five treats per training session. The bag holds 42 mints. Which equation shows the number of horses that she can train and is a solution a viable option?

Question

A. h/5 = 42 and h = 210, which is not viable.
B. h - 5 = 42 and h = 47, which is not viable
C. h/5 = 42 and h = 210, which is not viable.
D. 5h = 42, so h = 8.4 horses, which is viable.

Answer 1

To determine how many horses the trainer can train with the given bag of treats, we need to understand that she has 42 mints and needs 5 treats per horse for each training session. Thus, we can use the equation to find the number of horses (h) she can train:

1. Each horse requires 5 mints for a training session.
2. Therefore, the equation can be written as: \[ 5h = 42 \]
3. To find \( h \): \[ h = \frac{42}{5} = 8.4 \]

Since the number of horses trained must be a whole number (you can't train a fraction of a horse), 8.4 horses indicates that she can train 8 full horses (and have 2 mints leftover).

Now let's analyze the answer choices:

A. \( \frac{h}{5} = 42 \): When solved, it gives \( h = 210 \), which does not make sense in the context. B. \( h - 5 = 42 \): When solved, it gives \( h = 47 \), which is not viable (not related to the mints directly). C. \( \frac{h}{5} = 42 \): This again would lead to \( h = 210 \), not viable here as well. D. \( 5h = 42 \): The solution leads to \( h = 8.4 \). Training 8 horses is a viable solution, as it gives a practical outcome.

Therefore, the correct answer is:

D. 5h = 42, so h = 8.4 horses, which is viable.