Question

Jeremy wants to buy a new computer. The saleswoman says that he can make a down payment and then pay for the computer in installments.

Here's a formula that describes this scenario:

x=t-yz

x = Amount down
y = Money each month
z = Number of months
t = Total price

Rewrite the formula to solve for the amount of money Jeremy must pay each month.

Answer 1

The correct answer is:

$y=\frac{-x+t}{z}$

Explanation:

We want to solve for the amount of money he pays each month. This is represented by y in the equation. This means we want to isolate y in the equation:

x = t - yz

We first want to subtract t from each side:

x - t = t - yz - t

x - t = -yz

Now we want to cancel the negative sign and z. We can isolate both of these at the same time; divide both sides by -z:

$\frac{x-t}{-z} = \frac{-yz}{-z} \\ \\\frac{x-t}{-z}=y$

We can divide the numerator by the negative sign; this gives us

$\frac{-x+t}{z}=y$

Answer 2

Answer: $y=\frac{t-x}{z}$

Step-by-step explanation:

Given: A formula that describes this scenario:

$x=t-yz$

where, x = Amount down

y = Money each month

z = Number of months

t = Total price

To solve the formula for the amount of money Jeremy must pay each month i.e. y, first subtract t on both sides of the equation, we get,

$x-t=-yz\\\\\Rightarrow\ yz=t-x$

Now, divide z on both sides, we get

$y=\frac{t-x}{z}$