Question 373852
Since "you pay him $7 per week" for 'w' weeks, this means that you have paid him 7w dollars in 'w' weeks (eg in 2 weeks, w=2, you've paid him 7*2=14 dollars)



So whatever you've paid him so far (7w), you're going to subtract that from 70 (since you want the balance to decrease). 



So this means that in 'w' weeks, the balance is {{{70-7w}}} dollars (eg: in 4 weeks, the balance is 70-7*4 = 70-28 = 42 dollars)



So if "y as the balance on the loan", then the equation is 



{{{y=70-7w}}}



Note: In 10 weeks, w=10, the balance will be {{{y=70-7*10=70-70=0}}} dollars. So you will have paid him off in 10 weeks. This is of course assuming that there's no interest involved.



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Jim