Question

Malia is at an amusement park. She bought 14 tickets, and each ride requires 2 tickets. Write an expression that gives the number of tickets Malia has left in terms of x, the number of rides she has already gone on. Find at least one other expression that is equivalent to it.

Answer 1

If x is the number of tickets she has left, then 2x is the number she has used (2×number of rides she has gone on). So the number she has left would be...

14 - 2x

We can now find an equivalent expression by replacing the x with a number... for example...

14 - 2(2)

This would be if she rode two rides. You could solve the equation like this...

14 - 2x =
14 - 2(2) =
14 - 4 = 10

After 2 rides she has 10 tickets left.