A gardener starts with 15 flowers already planted in a garden. She plans to plant addition… — ACT

A gardener starts with $15$ flowers already planted in a garden. She plans to plant additional flowers at a constant rate of $8$ flowers per hour. How many hours will it take the gardener to have a total of $79$ flowers planted?

Answer: 8 hours

Answer

It will take the gardener

8

hours to have a total of

79

flowers planted.

The total number of flowers planted can be modeled by the linear equation

15 + 8h = 79

, where

h

is the number of hours. Subtracting

15

from both sides of the equation gives

8h = 64

. Dividing both sides by

8

reveals that

h = 8

hours.

Step-by-Step Solution

Set up the linear equation representing the total flowers planted over time.

15 + 8h = 79

, where

h

is the number of hours.

The gardener begins with

15

flowers and adds

8

flowers for each hour

h

, with the final goal of

79

total flowers.

Isolate the variable term by subtracting the initial number of flowers from the total.

8h = 64

Subtracting

15

from both sides of the equation isolates the term containing the variable

h

Divide by the rate to solve for the number of hours.

h = 8

Dividing the remaining flowers to be planted (

64

) by the planting rate (

8

flowers per hour) yields the total number of hours required.

Key Concept

Translating a real-world scenario into a linear equation and solving for the unknown variable.

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