Your dad made 60 miniature sandwiches for a party. in the first hour, a certain number of sandwiches were eaten and then you ate 9 sandwiches. if there are 17 sandwiches left, how many sandwiches were eaten in the first hour?

Step-by-step explanation:

60 sandwiches;  x are eaten in the first hour.  You ate 9 sandwiches after that.  There are 17 sandwiches left.

60 - x - 9 = 17

-x = 17 - 60 + 9

-x = -34    you can't have a negative x so you have to change the sign on both sides.

x = 34 sandwiches were eaten in the first hour.

34 + 9 + 17 = 60  checks out.

ok then what happened.