Anyone who has the Math destroyer(2010 ed)
look at TEST 1 #8....They used a simliar formulae but did not have 1*x
how are these 2 questions different?
i'm guessing you mean something like this...?
(0.20)(30) = (0.10)(30+x)
that would tell you how much water you would need to add to 30 gal. of 20% pulp to dilute it down to 10% pulp. it's m1v1 = m2v2.
the reason I wrote it out the way I did in the original problem, was to keep things consistent with (m)(v) terms:
[original] + [added] = [total]
(0.20)(30) +
(1.00)(x) = (0.50)(30+x)
if you're adding something pure, obviously
(1.00)(x) is just x.
if you're adding water, obviously
(0.00)(x) is 0 and that term goes away and you get m1v1 = m2v2.
if you're mixing in x gal. of another concentration, you have the versatility to use
(0.75)(x), etc.
my point was that the (m)(v) thing is more versatile than just m1v1 = m2v2. sure, you can do the same thing step-wise (a la LetsGo) but I don't see how that's any easier than being able to set up a one-line equation once you understand how (m)(v) terms can be additive.