Jerome’s teacher gave him a homework assignment on solving equations. Since he’s been thinking about saving for a used car, he decided to use the assignment as an opportunity to model a savings plan. He already has $500, and he plans to save $375 every month. To model the situation, he created this equation, where y represents the total amount saved for the car and x represents the number of months since he started saving:

500 + 375x = y.

He then solved the equation to determine how many months he would need to save to have enough to purchase the car. Review his work, and select the error.

Justification
1: given
2: addition property of equality
3: simplification
4: division property of equality
5: simplification
6: substitution, y = 3,500
7: simplification
Step 1:500 + 375x = y
Step 2:500 + 375x − 500 = y − 500
Step 3: 375x = y − 500
Step 4: =
Step 5: x =
Step 6: x =
Step 7: x = 8
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