Station 1

Name:___________________________

1. Suppose that of the students in a school are freshmen.

Define a variable for the number students in the school

Write an expression for the number of freshmen in the school

Use the above expression to write an equation stating that number of freshmen in a school is
equal to 312.

Solve the equation to find how many students are in the school

2. Mark Upp runs a retail store. On each item sold, he makes a profit of 20%, which means that
he sells it for 1.2 times what he paid for it.
Define a variable for the price he pays for an item.

Write an expression for the price Mark sells the item for.

Use the above expression to write an equation stating that he sold a suitcase for $84.

Solve the equation to find how much he paid for the suitcase.

3. When you travel downstream your actual speed is your speed through the water plus the
speed of the current. The San Antonio River flows at about 3 kilometers per hour (km/h).
Define a variable for your speed through the water.

Write an expression for the actual speed you are moving forward at when you travel down the
San Antonio river.

Use the above expression to write an equation stating that your actual speed traveling down the
river is 21 km/h.

Solve the equation to find your speed through the water.

4. You are making pancakes. It takes 10 minutes to mix the batter and heat up the pan. It takes
four minutes to cook a pancake.
Define a variable for the number of pancakes you make.

Write an expression for the total time it takes to make one pancake.

Use the above expression to write an equation stating that you cooked pancakes for 30
minutes.

Assuming that you can only cook one pancake at a time, solve the equation to find how many
pancakes you cooked in 30 minutes.

5. Flo Tilla is pedal-boating on the lake. She pedaled 800 yards away from the dock when she
turns around. She goes at a rate of 50 yards per minute towards the dock
Define a variable for the time she has pedaled since she has turned around .

Write an expression for the distance she is from the dock.

Use the above expression to write an equation stating that she is 50 yards from the dock.

Solve the equation to find how long she had to pedal after turning around.

Station 2

Name:___________________________

1. Drenchin Donuts sells donuts for 20 cents each, plus 15 cents for the box in which they come
Define a variable for the number of donuts you are buying.

Write an expression for the total price of the donuts

Use the above expression to write an equation stating that you paid $3.55.

Solve the equation to find how many donuts you bought (assuming your donuts all fit into one
box).

2. Drane& Route Plumbing Co. charges $42 per hour, plus $35 for the service call.
Define a variable for the number of hours they worked.

Write an expression for the price you paid.

Use the above expression to write an equation stating that you paid $140.

Solve the equation to find how long they worked.

3. Doug Upp must shovel a pile containing 50 ft 3 of sand into a dump truck. With each scoop he
decreases the size of the pile by ft3.
Define a variable for the number of scoops he has shoveled.

Write an expression for the number of cubic feet of sand that remains in the pile.
Use the above expression to write an equation stating that 20 ft3remains in the pile.

Doug takes a rest when 20 ft3 of sand remain. Solve the equation to find out how many scoops
Doug has shoveled before he rests.

4. Suppose that the people living in Boulder, CO drink 3600 cups of hot chocolate per day when
the temperature is 0C. For each rise of 1C, their consumption decreases by 30 cups per day.
Define a variable for the temperature in Boulder.

Write an expression for the total number of cups of hot chocolate people in Boulder consume a
day based on the temperature.

Use the above expression to write an equation stating that the people in Boulder consumed
2400 cups of hot chocolate today.

Solve the equation to find the temperature today.

5. The townspeople of Louisville, CO construct a 250-pound snow sculpture. It starts to melt at a

rate of 3 pounds per day.
Define a variable for the number of days since they have built the sculpture .

Write an expression for the number of pounds the sculpture weighs.

Use the above expression to write an equation stating that the sculpture weighs 160 pounds.

Solve the equation to find how long the sculpture has been melting assuming a constant rate of
melting.

Station 3

Name:___________________________

1. Jewel Case is at a point 3 miles from her home. She rides her bike at
from home.
Define a variable for the number minutes she has been riding.

mile per minute away

Write an expression for the total distance she is from home.

Use the above expression to write an equation stating that she is 10 miles from home.

Solve the equation to find how long that took.

2. As you coast downhill on your bike you find that your speed increases by miles per hour
each second. When you are going 12 miles per hour you start a stopwatch.
Define a variable for the number seconds your stop watch has been running.

Write an expression for the speed you are going since starting your stop watch.

Use the above expression to write an equation stating that you are traveling at 18 miles per
hour.

Solve the equation to find what your stop watch will read when you are traveling at 18 miles per
hour.

3. The temperature inside the earth is assumed to increase by about 10C for every kilometer
beneath the surface. Suppose that the temperature at the surface is 24C.
Define a variable for the depth you are at.

Write an expression for the temperature at this depth.

Use the above expression to write an equation stating that the temperature in a mine is 61C.

Solve the equation to find the depth of the mine.

4. A fried-chicken dealer makes boxes of chicken with various numbers of pieces. He charges
40 cents for each piece of chicken, plus a fixed charge of 55 cents for the box and a side.
Define a variable for the number of pieces of chicken you buy.

Write an expression for the total price of the chicken dinner.

Use the above expression to write an equation stating that you paid $3.35 for the chicken
dinner.

Solve the equation to find how many pieces of chicken you bought.

5. On level ground a car can go a top speed of 132 kilometers per hour (km/h). For each degree
of uphill slope the top speed is decreased by 11km/h.
Define a variable for the number of degrees of slope .

Write an expression for the speed of the car.

Use the above expression to write an equation stating that the top speed is equal to 187 km/h.

Solve the equation to find how steep the hill is. Is this an uphill or downhill?