Question

At the beginning of the season, Old MacDonald had to remove 5 orange trees from his farm. Each of the remaining trees produced 210 oranges for a total harvest of 41,790 oranges. Write an equation to help determine the initial number of orange trees.

Answer 1

Answer:

Let t = initial number of trees

"remove 5 trees at the start of the season" means

(t - 5) remain

"each remaining tree made 210 oranges for a total of 41,790 oranges" means

( t - 5) * 210 = 41790

Now, you can solve for t:

(t-5)(210) = 41790 [just re-writing]

210t - 1050 = 41790 [distribute]

210t = 42840 [add 1050 to each side]

t = 204 [divide each side by 210]

There were initially 204 trees. After 5 were removed, the remaining 199 produced 210 oranges each for a total of 199*210 = 41790 oranges.