Russell has been training for the Emerald Valley Race. The first week he trained, he ran 5 days and took the same two routes each day. He ran 2 miles around the football field before school and ran a longer route through his neighborhood after school. By the end of the week, Russell had run a total of 30 miles.

Question

Which equation can Russell use to find how many miles, x, he ran each day after school?
How many miles did Russell run each day after school?
Write your answer as a whole number or a simplified fraction.
miles

Answer 1

To find out how many miles Russell ran each day after school, we need to set up an equation based on the information given.

1. Distance run before school: Russell runs 2 miles around the football field each morning.
2. Distance run after school: Let \( x \) be the number of miles he runs each day after school.
3. Total number of training days: Russell ran for 5 days.

In total, for each day, the distance he runs is \( 2 \) miles in the morning plus \( x \) miles in the evening:

• Daily total distance for one day = \( 2 + x \) miles.

Since he ran for 5 days, the equation for the total distance he ran during the week is:

\[ 5(2 + x) = 30 \]

Now we can solve for \( x \):

1. Distribute on the left side:

\[ 10 + 5x = 30 \]

2. Subtract 10 from both sides:

\[ 5x = 20 \]

3. Divide both sides by 5:

\[ x = 4 \]

So, Russell ran 4 miles each day after school.

Final Answer: 4 miles