Lauren is planning a catered dinner party for her parents' anniversary with a dinner budget of $288. She has selected two options: a chicken dinner that costs $9 per plate and a steak dinner that costs $12 per plate. Lauren is working on the guest list and must also determine how many of each meal to order.
Let x
represent the number of chicken dinners and let y
represent the number of steak dinners.
If Lauren orders only chicken dinners, how many dinners can she order?
Complete the equation that represents this situation.
Make sure that you write the coefficient first, then the variable. For example 3 times x
should be entered 3x
and 5 times y
should be entered 5y
.
The equation that represents this situation is:
9x ≤ 288
The equation that represents the situation is: 9x, where x is the number of chicken dinners.
To determine the number of chicken dinners Lauren can order if she only orders chicken dinners, we need to use the given information.
Let's assign the value x to represent the number of chicken dinners Lauren plans to order.
Since the cost of each chicken dinner is $9, the total cost of x chicken dinners can be calculated as $9 multiplied by x, which can be written as 9x.
The equation that represents this situation is:
Total Cost = Cost per Chicken Dinner x Number of Chicken Dinners
Or, 9x = Total Cost
Now, we can solve for x to find out how many chicken dinners Lauren can order with her budget of $288.