Question

After a hike, a group of students equally share 5 boxes of granola bars. Each box has 8 granola bars. Which algebraic expression represents this situation?
A. (5 × 8) ÷ s
B. 5 × (8 ÷ s)
C. s × (5 + 8)
D. (s + 5) × 8

Answer 1

Answer: B.

First, we have to have a question for this problem to create a solution. So, the example sentence is how many granola bars does each student get.

Second, an algebraic expression has a variable in it. So since we are trying to find the number of students, the variable is s.

From looking at C and D, we can already eliminate them. This question has mostly multiplication and division words in it, so it can't be addition and multiplication.

Now, we only have A and B left. A tip on  how to figure this out is reading the word problem out thoroughly. I will use B as an example. 5 boxes of granola bars were multiplied by the number of granola bars each student got. From reading this, it makes more sense. But it does change the example sentence, though.

I hope this helped and this is the right answer!