Question

A robot sorts 14 nuts and bolts in a minute. Write an equation to determine the amount of time it

would take to sort a number of nuts and bolts.
If the robot sorted for 158 minutes, how many nuts and bolts did it sort?

Answer 1

Finding the equation

We know that:

• 14 nuts + 14 bolts = 1 minute

This means:

• x(14 nuts + 14 bolts) = x minutes

Hence, the equation is 'x(14 nuts + 14 bolts) = x minutes'.

Solving:

Now, let's use this equation to find out how many nuts and bolts did the robot sort in 158 minutes

• => x(14 nuts + 14 bolts) = x minutes
• => 158(14 nuts + 14 bolts) = 158 minutes
• => 2212 nuts + 2212 bolts = 158 minutes

Hence, the robot sorted 2212 nuts and bolts.