A pencil costs $3.50 and a pen costs $6.70. Jessica bought m pens. She also bought 4 fewer pencils than pens. Write an algebraic expression for the total amount she spent.
The answer supposed to be 6.70m + 3.5 (m-4). I got confused of what to do
To understand how to arrive at the expression 6.70m + 3.5 (m-4), let's break down the problem and go step by step.
It is given that a pencil costs $3.50 and a pen costs $6.70. Let's denote the number of pens Jessica bought as m.
Now, it is also mentioned that Jessica bought 4 fewer pencils than pens. If she bought m pens, then she must have bought (m-4) pencils.
To calculate the total amount she spent, we need to multiply the cost of each item (pen and pencil) by the number of items purchased and sum them together.
The total cost of pens is given by: 6.70 * m, since the cost of each pen is $6.70.
The total cost of pencils is given by: 3.50 * (m-4), since the cost of each pencil is $3.50 and Jessica bought (m-4) pencils.
Finally, to find the total amount she spent, we add these two amounts together:
Total Amount = Cost of Pens + Cost of Pencils
= 6.70 * m + 3.50 * (m-4)
Thus, the algebraic expression for the total amount she spent is 6.70m + 3.5 (m-4).
To write an algebraic expression for the total amount Jessica spent, we need to consider her purchases of both pens and pencils.
Given that a pen costs $6.70, and Jessica bought m pens, the cost of pens alone would be 6.70 * m, or 6.70m.
For the pencils, we know that Jessica bought 4 fewer pencils than pens. So, the number of pencils she bought is m - 4.
Given that a pencil costs $3.50, the cost of pencils alone would be 3.50 * (m - 4), or 3.50(m - 4).
To find the total amount she spent, we can add the two costs together:
Total amount spent = Cost of pens + Cost of pencils
Total amount spent = 6.70m + 3.50(m - 4)
Therefore, the algebraic expression for the total amount Jessica spent is 6.70m + 3.50(m - 4).
well, she bought m pens, and each cost 6.70
So, the total cost for the pens is 6.70m
same for the pencils, but there are m-4 of them.