Solve the equation 5m = 15 to find the number of miles that Lan jogged each day. Justify each step you take to solve the equation.
5m = 15
Divide both sides by 5. What do you get?
1m = 3
3 divided by 1 is 3. The answer is 3?
Yes. m = 3.
To solve the equation 5m = 15, where m represents the number of miles that Lan jogged each day, we need to isolate the variable (m) on one side of the equation.
Step 1: Start with the equation 5m = 15.
The equation states that 5 times the number of miles Lan jogged each day (5m) is equal to 15.
Step 2: Divide both sides of the equation by 5.
Dividing both sides of the equation by 5 will give us m, isolating the variable.
(5m)/5 = 15/5 --> m = 3.
Therefore, Lan jogged 3 miles each day.
Explanation: We solved the equation by using the inverse operation. Since 5m means multiplying m by 5, we can undo it by performing the inverse operation, which is dividing both sides of the equation by 5. Dividing 15 by 5 gives us the value of m, which is 3. Hence, Lan jogged 3 miles each day.