Darren wins a coupon for $4 off the lunch special for each of 5 days. He pays $75 for his 5 lunch specials. Write and solve an equation to find the original price p for one lunch special.

Answer 1

Hi Anthony,

It looks like Darren bought lunch 5 times and spent $75. So that must be $15 each day. If he got $4 off each day, then the regular price must have been $19. That was the easy part. What about an equation.

The normal price, P has been reduced by $4. So, what Darren paid each day was (p - 4).

He paid that amount 5 times. So, we can say his total was 5(p - 4)

We already know the total was $75. So an equation that works is 5(p - 4) = 75

Enjoy.

Answer 2

Let's call the original price for one lunch special as "m".

If Darren gets $4 off the original price for 5 days, you can calculate the total price he pays using the following equation:

5(m - 4).

If the total price is $75, you can set that expression equal to 75. This will be your equation:

5(m-4) = 75

If you distribute the 5: 5m-20=75

If you isolate the 5m by adding 20: 5m = 95

And finally, if you divide by 5: m = 19.00

The original price for one lunch special is $19.

Answer 3

p = (75 / 5) + 4