Math word problem

Question

There are 7 times as many cars as there are trucks in a parking lot. If there are 49 cars in the parking lot, how many trucks are there?

Answer 1

Hi Jasmine,

We are going to solve this problem in a way that might surprise you. Are you ready?

Since there are 7 times as many cars as there are trucks that means that there are a lot more cars than trucks. Let’s start out with just one truck and then two trucks, etc and see if we notice a pattern.

If there is just 1 truck, then 7 X 1= 7 so that means there will be 7 cars.

If there are 2 trucks, then 7 X 2 = 14 so that means there will be 14 cars.

keep following this logic until you figure out how many trucks are needed to have 49 cars. Perhaps by now you have figured out that if you divide the number of cars by 7, then you can take a shortcut and figure out how many trucks there will be. :)

Answer 2

There are 7 times as many cars as there are trucks in a parking lot. If there are 49 cars in the parking lot, how many trucks are there?

We need to have a variable for our unknown value, let's use t as our variable.

We know there are 49 cars in the parking lot. We need to know how many trucks there are.

Based on the given information, we can use the equation below.

7t=49

Solve for t to give you the total number of trucks.

Answer 3

Hi Jasmine,

Let's draw a bar chart for this;

1 unit = [_]

Cars [_][_][_][_][_][_][_] =>49

Trucks [_]

Since cars are 7 units,

Therefore;

1 unit = 49÷7 = 7

Trucks is 1 unit;

Therefore, there are 7 trucks.

To illustrate this and confirm the answer is correct;

Cars [7][7][7][7][7][7][7] =>7X7 = 49

Trucks [7]

Answer 4

Let t = the number of trucks

Let 7t = the number of cars (There are 7 times as many cars as trucks.)

If there are 49 cars in the parking lot, 7t = 49

Divide both sides by 7 to solve for t. t = 7

There are 7 trucks in the parking lot.