Chau currently has \( \$ 42 \) in savings. He had been saving \( \$ 7 \) each week. Yesterday he spent \( \$ 77 \) of the savings. For how many weeks had he been saving? (a) Write an equation that could be used to answer the question above. First, choose the appropriate form. Then, fill in the blanks with the numbers 42,7 , and 77 . Let \( w \) represent the number of weeks. \( \square w+\square=\square \) \( \square w-\square=\square \) (b) Solve the equation in part (a) to find the number of weeks. w \( =\square \)

Given that Chau currently has $42 in savings, he has been saving $7 each week, and he spent $77 of his savings yesterday, we can set up an equation to find out how many weeks he has been saving. Let \( w \) represent the number of weeks he has been saving. The equation can be set up as follows: \( 7w + 42 = 77 \) This equation represents the total amount of money Chau has saved, which is the sum of the amount he has saved each week (\( 7w \)) and the initial amount he had in savings (\( 42 \)), equaling the total amount he had before spending (\( 77 \)). Now, we can solve this equation to find the number of weeks Chau has been saving. Solve the equation by following steps: - step0: Solve for \(w\): \(7w+42=77\) - step1: Move the constant to the right side: \(7w=77-42\) - step2: Subtract the numbers: \(7w=35\) - step3: Divide both sides: \(\frac{7w}{7}=\frac{35}{7}\) - step4: Divide the numbers: \(w=5\) The solution to the equation \(7w + 42 = 77\) is \(w = 5\). Therefore, Chau has been saving for 5 weeks.