Name ________________________________________ Date __________________ Class__________________

Chapter Equations
1
Performance Assessment Teacher Support
Tow O' War
Purpose
This performance task assesses the student’s ability to create a table to
evaluate expressions.
Time
30–45 minutes
Grouping
Individuals or partners
Preparation Hints
Review numerical expressions, algebraic expressions, variables, and
constants. Remind students about the use of expressions to translate
words into symbols, and expressions can be used to translate real-life
situations into algebraic expressions.
Overview
This task uses algebraic expressions to create a price quote chart that a
tow truck company can use to give their customers a quote on how much it
would cost to tow a vehicle a given number of miles. Algebraic expressions
are used to figure out the amounts in a table. Students who are familiar
with spreadsheets should be encouraged to practice creating the
spreadsheet on their own.
Introduce the Task
Ask students if they have ever seen a table of hourly prices for renting a
bicycle while on vacatioin. These tables sometimes are created by
evaluating algebraic expressions. For example, if it costs $3 plus $2 per
hour to rent a bicycle, than the expression 2h + 3 can be used to find the
costs for renting the bicycle for 1, 2, 3 4, ..., 24 hours.
Performance Indicators
_____ Writes expressions.
_____ Evaluate expressions.
_____ Explains how apply the expression given the context of the
problem.
_____ Explains how to create a table of values using replacements for the
variable.
_____ Identifies whole-number or decimal values that satisfy conditions.
Scoring Rubric
Level 4: Student solves problems correctly and gives good explanations.
Level 3: Student solves problems but does not give satisfactory
explanations.
Level 2: Student solves some problems but does not give satisfactory
explanations.
Level 1: Student is not able to solve any of the problems.
Original content Copyright © by Holt McDougal. Additions and changes to the original content are the responsibility of the instructor.
19 Holt McDougal Algebra 1
Name ________________________________________ Date __________________ Class__________________

Chapter Equations
1
Performance Assessment
Tow O' War
You are a lucky person. You saved all your money and you bought your
first car. Too bad the car broke down after only one month. Because you
don't have much money, you decide to shop around for the right towing
company. You don't know how many miles it will be to return the car to
your garage.
1. Suppose you call three companies. For each company in the tables below, fill in mileage
estimates and then evaluate the given expression, where m represents the number of
miles.
Company Dollar Company Dollar Company Dollar
A Rate B Rate C Rate 80 +
50 + m 30 + 2m 0.10m
Number Cost Number Cost Number Cost
of Miles of Miles of Miles

a. Explain why you gave those mileage estimates for each table.

____________________________________________________________________________________
b. Explain how to evaluate the cost for each company.

____________________________________________________________________________________
2. Suppose you know how many miles your car will have to be towed, as shown in the table.
Which company should you choose? Use your tables in Question 1 to choose the company
that costs the least.
Mileage (mi) Company
5
10
15
20
2. Suppose you have at most $100 to spend.
a. Explain how you would determine the most number of miles that can be driven by each
tow truck so that you keep your costs under $100.

____________________________________________________________________________________
b. List the most number of miles in the table.

Company Mileage
A
B
C

Original content Copyright © by Holt McDougal. Additions and changes to the original content are the responsibility of the instructor.
20 Holt McDougal Algebra 1
Name ________________________________________ Date __________________ Class__________________

Chapter Equations
1
Answers continued
x
15. M = DV 16. y = 2 − Chapter Test Form C
6
1. 8 – m
17. 2 mi/min 18. 13, −13
2. Possible answers: “k divided by 10,” or,
19. −10, 20 20. s = 5 “the quotient of k and 10.”
21. $27 22. 3 3. 1.5
5 x 4. x = −66 5. a = 7
23. = ; 20 ft 24. 12
2 8
6. n − (−2) = 21; n = 19 7. m = −28
25. x = 1 in. 26. 0.6 mL
8. t = −2
27. 180 cm 28. Cameron
9. −2.5n = 60; n = −24 10. z = 5
29. Makayla 30. 209 km–231 km
11. d = −1 12. 1400
Chapter Test Form B 13. a = 2 14. no solution
1. 0.75p 2S
15. b = −a 16. x = 1000 − 20y
2. Possible answers: “30 more than b,” or, n
“b increased by 30.”
17. 2904 ft/min 18. 12
3. 3 4. x = 158
2
5. a = 2.5 19. no solution 20. s = −
3
6. n − 11 = −18; n = −7
21. 368 students 22. 4
7. m = −7 8. t = 6
9. −5n = 30; n = −6 10. z = 6 3 c
23. = ; x = 6.8 ft
3.75 8.5
11. d = 42 12. 12.5 h
24. 9.75 cm 25. y = 7.5 mi
1
13. a = 3 14. all real numbers 26. 21.3 mL 27. 18.0 in.
3
M 28. Dr. Skelton 29. Dr. Harris
15. V = 16. y = 2x + 7
D 30. 211.43 oz–216.57 oz
17. 0.6 mi/min 18. −4, 2 Chapter Performance Assessment
19. no solution 20. s = −16
21. 3 cups 22. 1:9 Chapter Cumulative Test

6 2.5 1. A 2. H
23. = ; 24 ft 24. x = 20
h 10 3. A 4. H
25. y = 48 in. 26. 2.39 lbs 5. D 6. J
27. 1,115 cm 28. Brandon 7. B 8. F
29. Brandon 9. B 10. H
30. 109.45 mg–110.55 mg 11. C 12. G
13. C 14. G
15. D 16. H

Original content Copyright © by Holt McDougal. Additions and changes to the original content are the responsibility of the instructor.
211 Holt McDougal Algebra 1
Name ________________________________________ Date __________________ Class__________________

Chapter Equations
1
Answers continued
17. D 18. G
19. A 20. H
21. B 22. H
23. B 24. F
25. B 26. J
27. A 28. J
29. D 30. G
31. D 32. H
33. A 34. J
35. D 36. F
37. C 38. F
39. C 40. G
41. B 42. J
43. D 44. F
45. C 46. H
47. B 48. F
49. A 50. G
51. B 52. H
53. D 54. G

Original content Copyright © by Holt McDougal. Additions and changes to the original content are the responsibility of the instructor.
212 Holt McDougal Algebra 1