I am horrible at word problems! especially with algebra! help!!

Question

anonymous · Answer

Agent Hunt transferred classified files from the CIA mainframe onto his flash drive. The drive had some files on it before the transfer, and the transfer happened at a rate of 4.4 megabytes per second. After 32 seconds, there were 384 megabytes on the drive. The drive had a maximum capacity of 1000 megabytes.
How full was the drive when the transfer began in megabytes?

anonymous · Answer

Also how long did it take the drive to be completely full in seconds?

geerky42 · Answer

Just let $t$ be variable for time (second).

So you have $y = 4.4t+\underline{ ~~?~~ }$ (Because for each second, Agent gains 4.4 megabytes, and by "?", we don't know how much megabytes drive contains at beginning.)

At t = 32, we have y = 384, so from here, we can find "?"
$$384 = 4.4(32) + \underline{ ~~?~~ }\~~~~~~=140.8 + \underline{ ~~?~~ }$$
Subtract both sides by 140.8;

$$384 - 140.8 = \underline{ ~~?~~ }\~\
~~~~~~~~~~~243.2=\underline{ ~~?~~ }$$

So now we know that drive contains 243.2 megabytes at beginning. 

So our equation looks like $y = 4.4t + 243.2$

Now to find how long it takes for drive to be completely full in seconds, you just set  y = 1000, because that's maximum capacity.

$$1000 = 4.4t + 243.2$$
Can you solve for $t$ from here?