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Write and solve an equation for the situation. Check the solution.
A gardener measures the tallest of his prize-winning sunflowers and finds that the height is 65 in. The sunflower has grown 12.1 inches since the last time the gardener measured it. How tall was the sunflower when it was last measured?
Write an algebraic equation that represents the scenario.
Solve to find the solution.
Let's start by assigning a variable to the unknown value, which is the height of the sunflower when it was last measured. Let's call it "x".
According to the problem, the current height of the sunflower is 65 inches, and it has grown 12.1 inches since the last measurement. To find the height of the sunflower when it was last measured, we need to subtract the growth from the current height.
So, the equation that represents the scenario is:
x + 12.1 = 65
To solve for x, we need to isolate it on one side of the equation.
We can do this by subtracting 12.1 from both sides of the equation:
x + 12.1 - 12.1 = 65 - 12.1
Simplifying the equation, we have:
x = 52.9
Therefore, the sunflower was 52.9 inches tall when it was last measured.
To check our solution, we can substitute x = 52.9 back into the original equation:
52.9 + 12.1 = 65
65 = 65
Since the equation is true, our solution is correct.