Question

Bob bought a broken motor scooter, repaired it, and sold the scooter for $130. That was $50 less than 1.5 times what he paid for it. Which equation can be used to find, p, the amount of money Bob initially paid for the broken scooter?

Answer 1

For this case, the first thing we must do is define variables:
 c = sale price
 p = the amount of money Bob initially paid for the broken scooter
 We write then the linear equation that adapts to the problem:
 c = 50-1.5p
 For c = 130 we have:
 130 = 1.5p-50
 We cleared p:
 p = (130 + 50) / (1.5)
 p = 120 $
 Answer:
 the amount of money Bob initially paid for the broken scooter was:
 p = 120 $