(2) Pedro goes to the store and buys a binder, a folder, and a highlighter. The folder's cost is half the cost of the binder, and the highlighter's cost is \( \$ 1.25 \) less than the binder. The total cost of the three supplies, with no tax, is \( \$ 4.75 \). Write an equation to represent the situation. Show your work.

Let's denote the cost of the binder as \( b \). According to the problem, the folder costs half the cost of the binder, so we can write its cost as \( \frac{b}{2} \). The highlighter's cost is \( \$ 1.25 \) less than the binder, which gives us the cost of the highlighter as \( b - 1.25 \). Now, we can set up the equation for the total cost of the three items: \[ b + \frac{b}{2} + (b - 1.25) = 4.75 \] To make it easier to solve, let's combine the terms: 1. Start by adding \( b + \frac{b}{2} + (b - 1.25) \): - Combine the \( b \) terms: \( b + \frac{b}{2} + b = 2.5b - 1.25 \). 2. Now, our equation looks like this: \[ 2.5b - 1.25 = 4.75 \] 3. Add \( 1.25 \) to both sides: \[ 2.5b = 4.75 + 1.25 \] \[ 2.5b = 6 \] 4. Finally, divide both sides by \( 2.5 \): \[ b = \frac{6}{2.5} = 2.4 \] Now we can find the costs of the folder and highlighter: - Folder: \( \frac{b}{2} = \frac{2.4}{2} = 1.2 \) - Highlighter: \( b - 1.25 = 2.4 - 1.25 = 1.15 \) So the costs are: - Binder: \$2.40 - Folder: \$1.20 - Highlighter: \$1.15 Now let's check the total cost: \[ 2.40 + 1.20 + 1.15 = 4.75 \] The equation that represents the situation is: \[ b + \frac{b}{2} + (b - 1.25) = 4.75 \]