This task is from Tools for NC Teachers.  Students estimate the solution to a multi-step problem, solve it, and then reason about their estimate and answer. This is remixable.

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Movie Theater Seats

The Royal Movie Theater has 199 seats.  The theater has sold 23 child tickets and 78 adult tickets for the seven o’clock show. 

1.     About how many tickets have been sold?  (Accept reasonable estimates between 90 – 110 tickets.)

2.     Write an equation to represent the problem.  Use a letter to stand for the unknown quantity.  (199 – (23 + 78) = t)

3.     How many more tickets would the theater need to sell to fill every seat?  (98 tickets)