Solving a Zoo Trip Math Problem with a Two-Step Equation

Imagine a day when 307 enthusiastic students embarked on a memorable trip to the zoo, their excitement palpable as they boarded the school buses. To ensure every student had a seat, all seven buses were filled to capacity, but a few students still needed to travel in cars. Can you find out how many students were in each bus?

Let's break down the problem into simple steps and write a 2-step equation to solve it.

Understanding the Total Number of Students

Firstly, we know there are 307 students in total. Among these, 6 students chose to travel in separate vehicles. This means that the remaining students traveled by bus. So, the number of students who traveled by bus is:

307 - 6 301 students

Now, with seven buses at our disposal, we can determine the number of students in each bus.

Formulating the Equation

Let's represent the number of students in each bus as x. The equation that reflects the total number of students in the buses is:

7x 301

Solving the Equation

Our next step is to solve for x. To do this, we need to divide both sides of the equation by 7 to find the value of x:

x 301 ÷ 7

After performing the division, we find:

x ≈ 43

Conclusion

Thus, each bus had approximately 43 students. Considering we cannot have a fraction of a student, we can say that 43 students were in each of the 7 buses. If there were a few students left over, these could be distributed among the buses or another bus might have slightly more than 43 students to accommodate all 301 students.

In summary, the equation is:

7x 301

And the approximate solution is:

x ≈ 43

Additional Math Problems

This simple math problem can also help us distribute students among buses in another scenario. For example, if there are 243 students and 6 buses, and we assume each bus is of equal capacity, each bus would accommodate 40 students with 3 students remaining who would need to travel in the cars. However, if the buses are of different sizes, the number of students will vary for each bus, and the remaining students can be divided among the cars.

Solving Another Math Problem

Let's look at another example: if we have 518 students and 9 buses, we can solve it in a similar fashion:

First, subtract 9 from the total number of students:

518 - 9 509

Then, divide by the number of buses (9) to find the number of students per bus:

509 ÷ 9 56 remainder 5

This means 56 students in each bus, with 5 students needing to travel in the cars.

To summarize, when solving math problems related to distributing students, we can use equations and simple arithmetic operations to find the solution. These skills are not only useful for planning trips but also in many real-world scenarios, including distribution, budgeting, and more.