Natalia spent $153 of her savings at the mall. she bought clothes, a few paperback novels, and an $18 dvd. she spent 4 times as much on clothes as she did on the paperbacks.

·write an equation that can be used to determine how much money natalia spent on the paperback novels.

·use the equation to determine how much natalia spent on paperbacks.

5x + 18 = 153

We have x representing the price of the paperback novels, okay? Then we've got 4x, representing the amount spent on clothes, because she spent 4 times as much on clothes then on paperbacks. Next, we have 18, because of the additional $18 spent on the DVD. Finally, we set the equation equal to 153, because Natalia spent $153 total.

So we've got x + 4x + 18 = 183.
Combine like terms.
x + 4x = 5x.

Now our final equation is 5x + 18 = 153.

For the second part, we'll just solve for x in this simple two step equation.

5x + 18 = 153

Subtract 18 from both sides

5x + 18 = 153
      - 18   - 18

5x = 135

Divide both sides by 5 to isolate the variable.

5x / 5 = 135 / 5

x = 27

We can check this by substituting our solution back into our equation. We do that by replacing the variable x with 27.

5x + 18 = 153
5(27) + 18 = 153
135 + 18 = 153
153 = 153

So our solution is correct!

The equation is '5x + 18 = 135'
Natalia spent $27 on paperbacks.

Hope this helps!!
Let me know if you need help understanding anything and I'll try to explain the best I can.