An ice cream shop makes vanilla and chocolate ice cream. The vanilla ice cream machine has a 180-cup capacity, and it sells 20 cups per day. The chocolate ice cream machine has a 140-cup capacity, and it sells 16 cups per day. Write and solve an equation to show when the two machines will have the same amount of ice cream lef

Let x be the number of days it takes for the two machines to have the same amount of ice cream left.

The vanilla machine has (180 - 20x) cups of ice cream left after x days, and the chocolate machine has (140 - 16x) cups left after x days.

The equation to solve for x is:

180 - 20x = 140 - 16x

Add 20x to both sides of the equation:

180 = 140 + 4x

Subtract 140 from both sides of the equation:

40 = 4x

Divide both sides by 4:

x = 10

It will take 10 days for the two machines to have the same amount of ice cream left.