Suppose you have $28.00 in your bank account and start saving $18.25 every week. Your friend has $161.00 in his account and is withdrawing $15 every week. When will your account be the same?

your money = $28 + ($18.25 * each week)

the $28 is money that you already have in your bank account, and $18.25 how much it will increase by each week.

friend's money = $161 - ($15 * each week)
the $161 is money your friend has in his bank account, and $15 is how much it will decrease by each week (which is why there is a minus sign)

you want to know which week you and your friend will have the same amount of money, so make your equations equal to one another.

let's call the week, say, "x".

$28 + $18.25x = $161 - $15x
group your like terms:

$18.25x + $15x = $161 - $28
$33.25x = $133

now solve for x:
x = $133 / $33.25
x = 4

therefore, your account balances will be the same in week 4.

the answer is 4, you got your signs mixed up

To determine when your bank account balance will be the same as your friend's, we can set up an equation to represent the situation.

Let's say the number of weeks passed is represented by 'x'.

For your bank account, the balance after 'x' weeks can be calculated using the equation: 28 + 18.25x.

For your friend's account, the balance after 'x' weeks can be calculated using the equation: 161 - 15x.

To find when both account balances will be the same, we need to solve the equation 28 + 18.25x = 161 - 15x.

First, let's combine the like terms by bringing the 'x' terms together: 18.25x + 15x = 161 - 28.

Which simplifies to: 33.25x = 133.

Next, divide both sides of the equation by 33.25 to isolate the 'x' variable: x = 133 / 33.25.

Calculating this gives us: x ≈ 4.

Therefore, it will take approximately 4 weeks for your bank account balance to be the same as your friend's account balance.

let amount1 = 28 - 18.25w

let amount2 = 161 - 15w

so you want amount1 = amount2
28 - 18.25w = 161 - 15w
-3.25w = 133

oops, a negative number of weeks ????
your question is bogus