Nicholas started a canned-food drive at school. The equation representing this is y = 235x + 15, where x is the number of days, and y is the number of cans collected. Explain how to determine how many days it would take to collect 2600 cans.

Answer 1

To determine how many days it would take Nicholas to collect 2600 cans, we can use the given equation representing the canned-food drive:

\[ y = 235x + 15 \]

In this equation:

• \( y \) represents the total number of cans collected.
• \( x \) represents the number of days.

We want to find the value of \( x \) (the number of days) when \( y \) is 2600 cans. We can set up the equation as follows:

\[ 2600 = 235x + 15 \]

Next, we'll solve for \( x \) by following these steps:

1. Subtract 15 from both sides of the equation to isolate the term with \( x \):

   \[ 2600 - 15 = 235x \]

   \[ 2585 = 235x \]

2. Now, divide both sides by 235 to solve for \( x \):

   \[ x = \frac{2585}{235} \]

3. Calculate the right side:

   \[ x \approx 11 \]

So, it would take approximately 11 days to collect 2600 cans.