drops? Yes! Choice (B) is the correct answer.
Here are the steps for using Plugging In to solve Meaning in Context questions:
Meaning In Context
- Read the question carefully. Make sure you know which part of the equation you are being
asked to identify. - Use your pencil to label the parts of the equation you can identify.
- Eliminate any answer choices that clearly describe the wrong part of the equation, or go
against what you have labeled. - Plug in! Use your own numbers to start seeing what is happening in the equation.
- Use POE again, using the information you learned from plugging in real numbers, until you
can get it down to one answer choice. Or, get it down to as few choices as you can, and
guess.
Let’s look at a slightly different one now.
10.
7 x + y = 133
Jeffrey has set a monthly budget for purchasing frozen blended mocha drinks from his
local SpendBucks coffee shop. The equation above can be used to model the amount of
his budget, y, in dollars that remains after buying coffee for x days in a month. What
does it mean that (19, 0) is a solution to this equation?
A) Jeffrey starts the month with a budget of $19.
B) Jeffrey spends $19 on coffee every day.
C) It takes 19 days for Jeffrey to drink 133 cups of coffee.
D) It takes 19 days for Jeffrey to run out of money in his budget for purchasing
coffee.
Here’s How to Crack It
Start by labeling the x and the y in the equation to keep track of what they stand for. Use your pencil to
write “days” above the x and “budget” above the y. So 7 × days + budget = 133. Hmm, still not very
clear, is it? One way to approach this is to plug in the point. If x = days = 19 when y = budget = 0, then