Answer: The equation is 5x+15 = 20
Explanation:
Each of the five bags contain x pencils, where x is a placeholder for a positive whole number.
This means Tyler starts off with 5x pencils
He then adds 3 pencils per bag, so 3*5 = 15 extra pencils, to get the expression 5x+15. We're told the new grand total is 20 pencils.
Therefore, the equation for this story problem is 5x+15 = 20
The reason for the multiplication is because we have the same number of pencils per bag. So we're adding multiple groups together, or using multiplication to do a shortcut.
eg: instead of 5+5+5 = 15 we can do 5*3 = 15
