A chemistry teacher is preparing the 6 stations of a science laboratory. Each station will either have Experiment A materials or Experiment B materials, but not both. Experiment A requires
3 tablespoons of salt, and Experiment B requires 4 tablespoons of salt. If \(x\) is the number of stations that will be set up for Experiment A and the remaining stations will be set up for
Experiment B, which of the following expressions represents the total number of tablespoons of salt required?
The number of tablespoons of salt required for Experiment A may be a bit easier to find. Since we have \(x\) number of stations made for Experiment A and Experiment A requires 3 tablespoons of salt,
$$x \cdot 3 $$
$$ =3x $$
If there are \(x\) Experiment A stations, the remaining stations must correspond to Experiment B. Each Experiment B station requires 4 tablespoons of salt.
$$ (6-x) \cdot 4 $$
$$ =24-4x $$
Adding these together,
$$ 3x+(24-4x) $$
$$ = \boxed{24-x} $$
Whichever the model, it should be appropriate for arbitrary values. For example, let's take the hypothetical scenario of \(x=1\).
In this scenario, we will have \(1\) Experiment A station. There will be \(6-1=5\) Experiment B stations. Using the appropriate number of tablespoons of salt for each station,
$$ \text{total salt}=1\cdot3 + 5\cdot4 $$
$$ = 3+20 $$
$$ = 23 $$
We see that only the correct option \(\boxed{24-x}\) works in this given situation \((x=1)\).