Write a system of equations to describe the situation below, solve using any method, and fill in the blanks.Professor Garrett is grading papers in the teachers' lounge. He has already finished grading 16 assignments, and is grading 3 more assignments per hour. His teaching assistant just came in to help him. He can grade at a rate of 5 assignments every hour. At some point, they will be finished and will have graded the same number of papers. How long will that take? How many assignments will they each have graded?In _ hours, both Professor Garrett and his assistant will have graded _ assignments.
Q. Write a system of equations to describe the situation below, solve using any method, and fill in the blanks.Professor Garrett is grading papers in the teachers' lounge. He has already finished grading 16 assignments, and is grading 3 more assignments per hour. His teaching assistant just came in to help him. He can grade at a rate of 5 assignments every hour. At some point, they will be finished and will have graded the same number of papers. How long will that take? How many assignments will they each have graded?In _ hours, both Professor Garrett and his assistant will have graded _ assignments.
Define Variables: Let's denote the number of hours Professor Garrett's assistant works as x. Since Professor Garrett has already graded 16 assignments and grades 3 more per hour, the total number of assignments he will have graded after x hours is 16+3x.
Calculate Assignments Graded by Professor Garrett: The assistant grades 5 assignments per hour, so after x hours, he will have graded 5x assignments.
Calculate Assignments Graded by Assistant: For both Professor Garrett and his assistant to have graded the same number of assignments, we set their respective expressions equal to each other:16+3x=5x
Set Up Equation: Now we solve for x by subtracting 3x from both sides of the equation:16+3x−3x=5x−3x16=2x
Solve for x: Divide both sides by 2 to find the value of x:216=22x8=x
Calculate Total Assignments Graded by Assistant: Now that we know x is 8, we can find out how many assignments they each have graded. Since the assistant has graded 5 assignments per hour, after 8 hours he will have graded: 5×8=40 assignments.
Confirm Total Assignments Graded by Professor Garrett: To confirm that Professor Garrett has graded the same number of assignments, we substitute x with 8 in his equation:16+3×8=16+24=40 assignments.
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