Alex is stalking a shelf at the store. The shelf can hold 58 cans so he can still put 39 cans on the shelf before it's full. Create an equation to make sense of the problem and solve it to find out how many cans are already on the shelf.

5 answers

Let's denote the number of cans already on the shelf as \( x \).

We know from the problem that the shelf can hold a total of 58 cans, and Alex can still put 39 cans on the shelf before it's full. This means that the number of cans currently on the shelf plus the number of cans Alex can still add should equal the total capacity of the shelf.

We can set up the equation based on this information:

\[ x + 39 = 58 \]

Now, we can solve for \( x \):

  1. Subtract 39 from both sides: \[ x = 58 - 39 \]

  2. Perform the subtraction: \[ x = 19 \]

Thus, the number of cans already on the shelf is \( \boxed{19} \).

Okay but make a full equation

Certainly! Let's break it down into a full equation format.

Given:

  • The total capacity of the shelf (C) is 58 cans.
  • The number of cans Alex can still add to the shelf (A) is 39 cans.
  • Let \( x \) represent the number of cans already on the shelf.

The relationship can be expressed in the following equation:

\[ C = x + A \]

Substituting the known values into the equation:

\[ 58 = x + 39 \]

Now we can solve for \( x \):

  1. Subtract 39 from both sides: \[ x = 58 - 39 \]

  2. Calculate the right side: \[ x = 19 \]

Thus, the final equation and solution show that the number of cans already on the shelf is \( \boxed{19} \).

A full equation as in like all together in one line

Of course! Here’s the entire process condensed into a single line equation:

\[ x + 39 = 58 \quad \Rightarrow \quad x = 58 - 39 \quad \Rightarrow \quad x = 19 \]

This shows the full equation and the steps leading to the solution in one line. The final result is that \( x = 19 \), meaning there are 19 cans already on the shelf.