Question

Earl Pumpernickel owns and operates The Earl of Sandwiches, a profitable catering business in Logic Town. Recently, Earl was lucky enough to land a lucrative contract that will enable him to supply food for the Big Corporation for an entire month of lunch conferences. For the upcoming week, for example, he knows that Friday’s meeting will require 12 more sandwiches than Tuesday’s meeting, which will require six fewer sandwiches than Monday’s, which will require 20 more sandwiches than Wednesday’s, which will require five fewer sandwiches than Thursday’s. If the number of sandwiches ordered for the conference that calls for the fewest is 50, how many sandwiches will Earl need to make for the Big Corporation each day next week?

Answer 1

Answer:

Monday: 70

Tuesday: 64

Wednesday: 50

Thursday: 55

Friday: 76

Step-by-step explanation:

Equations

Let's call x to the number of sandwiches ordered for Thursday's meeting. We know that for Wednesday’s, we'll need x-5 sandwiches, for Monday's, we'll need 20 more, i.e. (x-5+20)=x+15 sandwiches. For Tuesday's it will be 6 fewer than x+15, or x+9. Finally, for Friday's, it will be 12 more than x+9 or x+21. Summarizing:

Monday: x+15

Tuesday: x+9

Wednesday: x-5

Thursday: x

Friday: x+21

The fewest of them all is x-5 and is must be equal to 50

$x-5=50$

$x=55$

The number of sandwiches per day is

Monday: x+15=70

Tuesday: x+9=64

Wednesday: x-5=50

Thursday: x=55

Friday: x+21=76