Marcel and Floyd are playing games at an arcade. Marcel has $8.25 and is only playing $0.25 games. Floyd has $9.75 and is only playing $0.75 games. Jorge wants to find the number of games after which Marcel and Floyd will have the same amount of money remaining. Jorge’s work is shown below.

Let x = the number of games played.

Equation: 8.25 minus 0.25 x = 9.75 minus 0.75 x. Step 1: negative 1.50 minus 0.25 x = negative 0.75 x. Step 2: negative 1.50 = 0.50 x. Step 3: negative 3 = x.


Jorge knows his answer is incorrect because it does not make sense to have a negative number of games. What is Jorge’s error?
The variable x should represent the amount of money left.
From Step 1 to Step 2, Jorge did not add 0.25x correctly to both sides.
The equation should have sums on both sides.
From Step 2 to Step 3, Jorge should have subtracted 0.50x from both sides.