To determine how many hours Maria still needs to spend to complete her community service program, we can set up an equation based on the total hours required and the hours she has already completed.
Maria needs to complete a total of \(5 \frac{1}{2}\) hours, and she has already spent \(3 \frac{3}{4}\) hours. The equation to find the remaining hours \(h\) that she needs to spend can be set up as follows:
\[
h = 5 \frac{1}{2} - 3 \frac{3}{4}
\]
To express this in a standard linear equation format:
\[
h + 3 \frac{3}{4} = 5 \frac{1}{2}
\]
Thus, the equation that can be used to determine the number of hours \(h\) that Maria still needs to spend is:
\[
h + 3 \frac{3}{4} = 5 \frac{1}{2}
\]