A factory manager is packing engine components into wooden crates to be shipped on a small truck. The truck is designed to hold 16 crates, and will safely carry a 1200 lb cargo.
Each crate weighs 12 lbs empty.
How much weight should the manager instruct the workers to put in each crate in order to get the shipment weight as close as possible to 1200 lbs?

The unknown quantity is the weight to put in each box, so we’ll call that x.

Each crate, when full, will weigh x+12 lbs because you add the weight of the engine component and the weight of the crate when empty.

We know that there are 16 crates that go into the truck.

We also know that all 16 crates together should weigh 1200 lbs.

Determine what the equation should be and then show how you solve it, step by step.