WHAT DO WE KNOW:
$27 is how much the waitress earns for one hour.
WHAT DO WE NEED TO FIND OUT?
How many hours the waitress needs to work to earn $135.
LET'S SET IT UP:
Let's create a "Math sentence" to make sense of it.
- Let's say the number of hours are H hours
- The waitress needs to work H number of hours and get paid $27 for each hour to earn $135.
That means that $27 multiplied by H number of hours will equal to $135
Writing this mathematically
27 x H = 135
SOLUTION:
- In order to find H we need to get H all alone on one side of the equation.
- Division is the opposite of multiplication and since 27 is being multiplied by H, we will divide by 27.
- If we make a change on one side of the equal sign, we have to make the same change on the other side of the equal sign. So now we divide 135 by 27 as well.
so let's divide 27 on both sides of the equation
27 135
— x H = ——
27 27
27 divided by 27 is equal to 1.
135 divided by 27 is equal to 5
SIMPLIFY:
1 x H = 5 (and of course 1 multiplied by any number is the number itself. So 1 x H, is just H)
H = 5
SO THE WAITRESS WOULD NEED TO WORK 5 HOURS IN ORDER TO EARN 135 DOLLARS.
Anita W.
05/03/24