Zach and Ginny are building model cars. Ginny's car is 2 more than 3 times the length of Zach's car. The sum of the lengths of both cars is 30 inches. Write an equation to determine the lengths of Zach's and Ginny's cars.

Question

a 3x + 2 = 30
b x + 2 + 3x = 30
c 2x + 3 = 30
d x + 2x + 3 = 30

Answer 1

Let \( x \) be the length of Zach's car. According to the problem, Ginny's car is \( 3x + 2 \) (which is 2 more than 3 times the length of Zach's car).

The sum of the lengths of both cars is given as 30 inches. We can write the equation as:

\[ x + (3x + 2) = 30 \]

Simplifying this equation gives:

\[ x + 3x + 2 = 30 \] \[ 4x + 2 = 30 \]

This matches option b:

b \( x + 2 + 3x = 30 \)

This is the correct equation to determine the lengths of Zach's and Ginny's cars.