Question

Janelle is in charge of bringing in dry erase markers for everyone in her math group to use to work on a project. She brings 3 markers for each person in her group and 5 extra markers for everyone to share. If Janelle brings in 23 markers in all, which equation represents the information? Let x represent the number of students in Janelle’s group.

Answer 1

Let x represent the number of students in Janelle’s group.  If  Janelle brings 3 markers for each person in her group, then she brings 3x markers for x students. You also know that she brings 5 extra markers for everyone to share. Thus, the total amount of markers she brings is 3x+5.

If Janelle brings in 23 markers in all, then the equation 3x+5=23 represaents the mathematical model.

3x=23-5,3x=18,x=6

Answer: there are 6 students in Janelle's group.

Answer 2

3x + 5 = 23 is the answer for the choice picker.