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The purpose of this activity is to activate student thinking around expressions and equations with two variables by considering the cost of different combinations of 2 fruits. This will be useful later when students interpret the meaning of variables in context and reason about systems of linear equations.
Begin by asking students to share their favorite fruits. If possible, record student responses for all to see. If necessary, explain that sometimes fruit is priced by weight and sometimes it is priced based on the number of items.
Give students 2 minutes of quiet work time followed by a partner then whole-class discussion.
At the market, avocados cost \$1 each and pineapples cost \$2 each. Find the cost of:
The goal of this discussion is to make sure students have a strategy for calculating the cost of different combinations of fruit. Begin by inviting students to share their strategies and record them for all to see. Consider asking:
“What do all of these methods have in common?”
“What do you notice about the combinations of fruit that all cost the same total amount?”
“What do you notice about the one combination of fruit that cost a different amount than the others?”
In this activity, students continue to examine equations of the form as they consider combinations of fruit that keep a total cost constant. The solutions are limited to non-negative integers and the set of all solutions is finite.
Monitor for students who write the equation to describe the \$10 combinations of fruit. There is no reason to solve for one variable in terms of the other, since a graph has not been requested and neither variable is dependent on the other.
Arrange students in groups of 2. Give students 3–4 minutes of quiet think time followed by partner then whole-class discussion.
At the market, avocados cost \$1 each and pineapples cost \$2 each.
The goal of this discussion is for students to see that the combinations of fruit that can be purchased for a total cost of \$10 are solutions to this situation and also to the equation (or some equivalent).
Invite students to share the combinations of avocados and pineapples that cost a total of \$10. (There are 6 combinations.) Record their responses for all to see. Next, invite previously selected students to share their equation representing the situation and record them for all to see.
Explain to students that the 6 combinations of fruit that cost \$10 are solutions to this situation and also to the equation . Emphasize that each solution has two values — one for avocados and one for pineapples.
Ask students:
“Were there any patterns that helped you find the combinations?” (Buying 1 less pineapple means you can buy 2 more avocados.)
“According to the equation you wrote, buying a pineapple and 9 avocados would also cost \$10. Do you think this situation is realistic?” (Probably not, you would only buy whole pieces of fruit.)
In this activity, students write an equation representing a relationship between two quantities. Note that the relationship stated here matches the relationship describing avocados and pineapples that can be purchased for \$10, but without the constraints of requiring whole-number values.
Students find pairs of numbers that make the equation and stated relationship true and not true. By graphing both sets of points, they use repeated reasoning to observe that the graph of a linear equation is the set of its solutions, and any point not on this line is not a solution (MP8).
As students plot points that make the equation and stated statement true, monitor for students who create graphs with these features, sequenced in order from more common to less common:
Points in the first quadrant only
Points on the axes (there are only two of these!)
Points in the second or fourth quadrants
Points with non-integer coordinate values
Arrange students in groups of 2. Provide access to graph paper, a straightedge, and a different color of pen or pencil.
Display the task statement for all to see: “There are two numbers. When the first number is doubled and added to the second number, the sum is 10.”
Ask the class to predict, before calculating anything, how many different pairs of numbers make the statement true. Record the responses for all to see.
Give students 8–10 minutes of quiet work time followed by a partner then whole-class discussion.
Select students with graphs that include the features described in the Activity Narrative to share later.
There are two numbers. When the first number is doubled and added to the second number, the sum is 10.
The purpose of this discussion is for students to see that values that make the relationship and equation true all lie in a line, and numbers not on the line will not make the equation or relationship true.
Invite previously selected students to share their graphs of points that make the equation and statement true. Sequence the discussion of the graphs in the order listed in the Activity Narrative. Create a classroom display with a graph that includes all of the points shared by students, adding additional points as each student shares. As each graph is shared, ask students:
“What do you notice about this graph?” (The points all lie on the same line.)
“What is something on this graph that hasn’t been seen yet?” (a point that lies one of the axes; negative - or -values; values for or that are not integers)
If not brought up in students’ graphs, ask if the equation could be true if was a negative value, such as ? If was a negative value, such as ? If was not an integer such as ?” (Yes, the corresponding - or -values would be , , and respectively.) If necessary, add these points to the classroom display.
After all previously selected graphs have been shared, connect the different responses to the learning goals by asking questions such as:
“Based on your observations, what is the relationship between the solutions of an equation and its graph?” (The graph of the equation is the set of all solution pairs plotted as points in the coordinate plane.)
“Is there any number for or where this equation would not be true?” (No. For every value of or there will be a corresponding - or -value that will make the equation true.)
“What does the graph tell about the number of solutions of your equation?” (There are an infinite number of solutions.)
“What did you notice about the points with - and -values that did not make the statement true?” (Those points did not lie on the same line as the points with values that did make the statement true.)
“What does it mean if a point does not lie on the line for the equation ?” (It means that pair of values for and is not a solution to the equation.)
The goal of this discussion is for students to understand that the solution to an equation with two variables is a pair of values for the variables that make the equation true. Begin by displaying the equation for all to see and ask students to recall what this equation represents (the number of avocados and pineapples that can be bought for \$10). Explain that each possible combination of fruit is a solution to this equation with two variables. Emphasize that the solution consists of two values, in this case the number of avocados and the number of pineapples .
Then ask students what a graph representing the situation with avocados and pineapples might look like. If any students created a graph for the Are You Ready for More question, invite them to share their graph now. If time allows, encourage students to create a quick sketch.
Then display the equation and this graph, or the graph with students' points created in a previous activity, for all to see. Remind students that this graph represents all the pairs of numbers that have a sum of 10 when one is doubled.
Draw in the line that passes through all of the points and explain that the line represents all of the solutions to the equation .
Then discuss with students:
“How would a graph representing the situation with avocados and pineapples be similar or different from this graph representing the situation with two numbers?” (Both graphs represent solutions to the same equation. The graph representing the fruit would only contain the six points that represent the six combinations of fruit that cost $10, while the graph representing the two numbers would be a line.)
“Can points that are not on the line be solutions to the equation represented by the line?” (No.)
“Can a single value be a solution to an equation with two variables?” (No, a solution is a pair of values—one for each of the variables.)
A solution to an equation with two variables is any pair of values for the variables that make the equation true. For example, the equation represents the relationship between the width and length for rectangles with a perimeter of 8 units. One solution to the equation is that the width and length could be 1 and 3, since . Another solution is that the width and length could be 2.75 and 1.25, since . There are many other possible pairs of width and length that make the equation true.
The pairs of numbers that are solutions to an equation can be seen as points on the coordinate plane where every point represents a different rectangle whose perimeter is 8 units. Here is part of the line created by all the points that are solutions to . In this situation, it makes sense for the graph to only include positive values for and since there is no such thing as a rectangle with a negative side length.
If students write , consider asking:
“What do and represent in your equation?”
“Which number, the first or second, gets doubled?”