Each bag holds the same number of apples and all apples way the same. Write an equation using b to mean bag of apples to show this balance.

Question

The balance is two apples and two bags on the righ, 5 apples and 1 bag on the left

Answer 1

So a bag, which I'll call "b", holds some unknown number of apples, let's say x apples. 'a' is an apple. So 5a represents 5 apples, etc. If we had 25 bags and 60 apples we could represent that as 25b + 60a.

 

Now for this problem, we have two apples and two bags on the right, 5 apples and 1 bag on the left.

 

OR:

 

5 apples + 1 bag = 2 apples + 2 bags

 

5a + b = 2a + 2b

 

The problem ends there, if I read it correctly. However, because we can, let's figure out how many apples are in each bag to make this balance (equation) true. Just add / subtract to reduce the equation to 1 b = ?????

 

5a + b = 2a + 2b

5a       = 2a  + b

3a       =         b

 

So, in order for the above equation to be balanced, each bag must hold 3 apples.