Trying to refresh college algebra!!!?

Question

i am trying to prep for my calculus class by reviewing some of my college algebra and there is one problem than i just can not get and i know its sooo easy but I'm drawing a blank, can anyone help??

A community center plans to raise money for flood victims through a bake sale. It costs $120 to rent a booth and 20 cents to bake each cookie. If they sell each cookie for 50 cents how many cookies must be sold to make a profit?

Answer 1

Set up the equation first so that you break even (no profit).

Let the number of cookies be “x.”

So then on one side you have the costs:

120 + .20x

And on the other side you’ll have how much you need for it to come out equal.  The price of each cookie times the number of cookies:

.50x

So:

120 +.20x = .50x

Then, just get all the x on one side by subracting .20x from each side:

120 = .30x

Then divide each side by .30:

400 = x

So to make any profit, you’d have to sell 401 cookies, which would give a thirty cent profit.