Question

A baby elephant weighs 1,400 pounds, which is 7,437 pounds less than her mother. Write an equation to express the weight of the mother. Solve.

Answer 1

Let's say that y is the weight of the mother and x is the weight of the baby.
We know that the baby is 7437 pounds less than the mother, which means you need to add 7437 pounds to the baby's weight to get the mother's.
We can show it like this:
x+7437=y.
We know what the baby's weight is (1400 lbs), so just sub it in:
1400+7437=y
y=8837 lbs
The mom weighs 8837 pounds.