This week your student will work on solving linear equations. We can think of a balanced hanger as a metaphor for an equation. An equation says that the expressions on either side have equal value, just like a balanced hanger has equal weights on either side.
If we have a balanced hanger and add or remove the same amount of weight from each side, the result will still be in balance.
We can do this with equations as well: adding or subtracting the same amount from both sides of an equation keeps the sides equal to each other. For example, if
Here is a task to try with your student:
Elena and Noah work on the equation
Elena:
Noah:
Do you agree with their solutions? Explain or show your reasoning.
Solution:
No, they both have errors in their solutions.
Elena multiplied both sides of the equation by 2 in her first step, but forgot to multiply the
Since 14 is not equal to 38, Elena’s answer is not correct.
Noah divided both sides by -3 in his last step, but wrote -8 instead of
This week your student will work with systems of equations. A system of equations is a set of 2 (or more) equations where the letters represent the same values. For example, say Car A is traveling 75 miles per hour and passes a rest area. The distance in miles it has traveled from the rest area after
We could also answer the question without using a graph. Since we are asking when the
Here is a task to try with your student:
Lin and Diego are biking the same direction on the same path, but start at different times. Diego is riding at a constant speed of 18 miles per hour, so his distance traveled in miles can be represented by
Solution:
To find when Lin and Diego meet, that is, when they have traveled the same total distance, we can set the two equations equal to one another:
They meet after Diego rides for one half hour and Lin rides for three quarters of an hour. The distance they each travel before meeting is 9 miles, since
IM 6–8 Math was originally developed by Open Up Resources and authored by Illustrative Mathematics, and is copyright 2017-2019 by Open Up Resources. It is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). OUR's 6–8 Math Curriculum is available at https://openupresources.org/math-curriculum/.