A science teacher ordered $3980 worth of microscopes and dissection kits for the new science lab. A total of 38
microscopes and 47 dissection kits were ordered. A microscope
costs four times as much as a dissection kit. Write a system of
linear equations that represents this situation. What is the cost
of each item?

proportions are fractions that equal to each other. so if two fractions are the same, they are proportional.

let's check the answers to see if they are proportional.

question a is not proportional because you can't turn 1.5/3 to 3/9. if you try to multiply 1.5/3 by 2 or 3, you wont get 3/9. it's impossible to make the fractions the same.

question b is not proportional because you can't turn 22/33 to 4/6. 33 can't go into 6.

question c is proportional because when you multiply 2 and 3 by 71, you would get 142/213, and those fractions equal to each other

question d is proportional because when you divide 14 and 7 by 2, you would end up with 7/3.5, and those fractions equal to each other.