A school plans to spend twice the amount it did last year on its winter dance, less the cost of the disco ball which was $150, since they have it from last year. A total of $1,500 is being spent this year. Fill in the blanks to write an equation that will determine the amount of last year’s budget, a

Answer 1

To find the equation for last year's budget \( a \), we can set up the equation as follows:

The school plans to spend twice last year's budget minus the cost of the disco ball. This can be expressed as:

\[ 2a - 150 = 1500 \]

Here, \( 2a \) represents twice last year's budget, and \( -150 \) accounts for the disco ball cost.

You can solve for \( a \) using this equation:

1. Add 150 to both sides: \[ 2a = 1500 + 150 \] \[ 2a = 1650 \]

2. Divide both sides by 2: \[ a = \frac{1650}{2} \] \[ a = 825 \]

So, last year's budget \( a \) was $825.