Melody

I think it is just

y= -1/4x+5

The wording of the question is very poor mathematician - it would have confused me too :)

Geno did help you - didn't you understand?

Just use the minus sign 

If someone else does this for you it would be their A+      NOT YOURS  

This is just a string of addition and subtraction.

You claim to be a clever 5th grader so you are capable of doing this yourself.

If you do not know how, here is a teaching site for it.

okay I have had to make some assumptions here whivhis never great when answering maths questions.

1) I have assumed that a couple is 2. So there are 3 people and  1 canoe.

2) I have assumed that they all hired vest at $2 each and this was a one off cost, not an hourly cost.

so

Let the numberof hours be x

5x+(3*2)=41

5x+6=41

5x=35

x=7 hours

It is ONLY equal when x=6

If x = anything else the statement would be incorrect.  

You might find this interesting

huh?  They are never equal    

I think we need a little more info here     LOL