Sally and Anne went to the movies. They each purchased a drink. They also bought one popcorn and one veggie cup to share. Each woman’ total is modeled with this expression:

Question

9 + 1.34 +
1
2
(3.50 +1.74)

How would you simplify the expression? Explain your steps.

Answer 1

Let's simplify the expression step by step.

The initial expression is:

\[ 9 + 1.34 + \frac{1}{2}(3.50 + 1.74) \]

Step 1: Simplify inside the parentheses. We first add the two numbers inside the parentheses:

\[ 3.50 + 1.74 = 5.24 \]

So the expression now becomes:

\[ 9 + 1.34 + \frac{1}{2}(5.24) \]

Step 2: Multiply by \(\frac{1}{2}\). Next, we multiply \(5.24\) by \(\frac{1}{2}\):

\[ \frac{1}{2}(5.24) = 2.62 \]

Now, the expression looks like this:

\[ 9 + 1.34 + 2.62 \]

Step 3: Add the numbers together. Now we can add all the numbers together step by step:

1. Add \(9 + 1.34\):

   \[ 9 + 1.34 = 10.34 \]

2. Now add \(10.34 + 2.62\):

   \[ 10.34 + 2.62 = 12.96 \]

Final Result: Thus, the simplified expression is:

\[ 12.96 \]

So, the total amount spent by each woman is \(12.96\).