Question 1155263
x = number of days.
j = number of cents that james had.
t = number of cents that tom has.
formula for james is j = 30 + 5x
formula for tom is t = 186 - 7x
everything is in cents.
they will have equal amounts when j = t
when j = t, 30 + 5x = 186 - 7x
your formula to solve is 30 + 5x = 186 - 7x
subtract 30 from both sides of this equation and add 7x to both sides of this equation to get:
5x + 7x = 186 - 30
combine like terms to get:
12x = 156
divide both sides of this equation to get:
x = 156 / 12
solve for x to get x = 13
they will have the same amount of money in 13 days.
that should be your answer.


you could have also done the same problem dealing with dollars rather than cents.
in that case:
formula for james is j = .3 + .05x
formula for tom is t = 1.86 - .07x
they will have the same amounts when j = t.
in that case, .3 + .05x = 1.86 - .07x
subtract .3 from both sides of this equation and add .07x to both sides of this equation to get:
.05x + .07x = 1.86 - .3
combine like terms to get:
.12x = 1.56
divide both sides of this equation by .12 to get:
x = 1.56 / .12
solve for x to get x = 13
same solution, just dealing with dollars rather than cents.