Word problem. Need equation and solution

Question

On Monday, 437 students went on a trip to the zoo. All 9 buses were filled and 5 students had to travel in cars. How many students were in each bus? What does the equation look like for this problem?  What is the solution?

 

 

Answer 1

This word problem should remind you of long division.  There were 437 (dividend) on 9 (divisor) busses with 5 (reminder) students riding in cars.  What is the quotient (the number of students in each bus)?

 

Now, dividing 9 into 437 is pretty easy, right.  And, if you subtract the remainder first, you should be able to evenly divide 9 into that ( 9 into 432).

 

Then, to check your answer, you multiply the quotient (your answer) by 9 and add 5 to get 437.

 

The equation for the number of busses = (437-5)/9

The answer is TBD.

Answer 2

Hi Heather,

 

Let's begin by assigning a letter to represent our unknown:

    x = # students per bus

 

Now let's write an expression to represent the total number of students who rode the bus:

   9x = total # students who rode the bus

 

Now we'll write an equation to express the sum of all the students who rode the bus and went in cars and then solve the equation for our unknown (x):

   9x + 5 = 437 (equation)

   9x = 437 - 5

   9x = 432

     x = 48 students per bus

 

Thanks for submitting this problem and glad to help.

 

God bless, Jordan.