A cold front caused the temperature to drop to 21f. The temperature after the drop was 36f. Write and solve an equation to find the temperature before the temperature dropped. my answer is 57f. my equation is 36f=21f-f
You answer is right, but your equation is not.
f - 21 = 36
To find the temperature before the temperature dropped, we can set up an equation. Let's call the temperature before the drop "x".
When the cold front caused the temperature to drop, it went from "x" to 21F. This means the temperature dropped by x - 21F.
After the drop, the temperature was 36F. So, we can set up the equation:
x - (x - 21) = 36
Let's solve the equation step by step:
First, apply the distributive property:
x - x + 21 = 36
Combine like terms:
21 = 36
This is not a true statement, so the equation does not have a solution. Therefore, the temperature before the drop cannot be 57F.
To reach a valid solution, we need to re-evaluate the equation. The correct equation to represent the given scenario is:
x - (x - 21) = 36
Expanding the parentheses:
x - x + 21 = 36
We simplify further:
21 = 36
Again, this is not a true statement. So, we should revisit the initial equation and reconsider our approach to finding the temperature before the drop.