Santiago is working at his mom’s daycare this summer. His mom has asked him to check out the library book sale to look for books they might be able to use in the daycare. When he gets to the book sale, he sees that board books are $1.50 and soft cover books are $0.50. He picks out a variety of books and spends $20 Write a two-variable equation to represent this situation. Be sure to define the variables you use in your equations

Answer 1

To represent Santiago's situation using a two-variable equation, we'll define our variables as follows:

• Let \( x \) represent the number of board books that Santiago buys.
• Let \( y \) represent the number of softcover books that Santiago buys.

Given the prices:

• Board books cost $1.50 each.
• Softcover books cost $0.50 each.

Santiago spends a total of $20 on these books. We can set up the equation based on the total amount spent:

\[ 1.5x + 0.5y = 20 \]

This equation represents the total amount Santiago spent on board and softcover books.

Summary of Variables:

• \( x \): number of board books
• \( y \): number of softcover books

Equation:

\[ 1.5x + 0.5y = 20 \]