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ALL: 1-2
GREEN: 3-10
BLUE: 7-18
BLACK: 11-21
Read the following example to help you understand how to complete the remaining
problems in this assignment.
Example 1
Potato Peeling Problem. Butch starts peeling potatoes at the rate of 3 potatoes
per minute. Four minutes later Janet joins him and peels at the rate of 5 potatoes
per minute. Butch continues at 3 per minute.
a. Define a variable for the number of minutes Butch has been peeling.
b. Write expressions for:
i the number of minutes Janet has been peeling;
ii the number of potatoes Butch has peeled;
iii the number of potatoes Janet has peeled;
iv the total number of potatoes that have been peeled.
c. Write an equation stating that they have peeled a total of 36 potatoes. Then
solve the equation to find out how long Butch has been peeling when 36 have
been peeled.
d. How many of the 36 potatoes did each one peel?
_____ _ _ _ _ _
a. Let = the number of minutes Butch has
been peeling. (See note 1.)
_____ _ _ _ _ _
b i - 4 = number of minutes Janet has
. been peeling. (See note 2.)
ii 3 = number of potatoes Butch
has peeled. (See note 3.)
iii 5( - 4) = number of potatoes Janet
has peeled. (See note 4.)
iv 3 + 5( - 4) = total number of potatoes.
Think These Reasons
c. 3 + 5( - 4) = 36 Set total number of potatoes equal to 36.
3 +5 - 20 = 36 Distribute the 5.
8 - 20 = 36 Combine like terms.
8 = 56 Add 20 to each member.
= 7 Divide each member by 8.
Butch peeled for 7 min. Answer the question.
_____ _ _ _ _ _
d. Butch : Janet :
3(7) 5(7 – 4) Substitute 7 for in the appropriate
= 21 = 5(3) expressions and evaluate.
= 15
6. The sum of three numbers is 65. Let be the first number. The second
number is four times the first number and the third number is two times
the second number. What are the three numbers?
Solve the problem by writing an equation and solving it. Check your answer.
7. The sum of two numbers is 24. One number is three times the other. Find
both numbers.
8. The length of a rectangle is 6 m more than the width. The perimeter of the
rectangle is 20 m. Find the length and width.
9. Judy is five years older than Punch. If the sum of their ages is 47, how old
is each?
10. The difference in the ages of two people is 8 years. The older person is 3
times the age of the younger. How old is each?
PROBLEMS INVOLVING CONSECUTIVE INTEGERS
11. Find three consecutive integers whose sum is equal to 366.
12. The sum of three consecutive even integers is equal to 84. Find the
numbers.
13. The sum of an odd integer and twice its consecutive is equal to equal 3757.
Find the number.
14. Find four consecutive even integers so that the sum of the first two added
to twice the sum of the last two is equal to 742.
15. A Case of Too Little Information. Will, Emma, and I have also talked
about the problems that arise when a client leaves out information. That
happens a lot, unfortunately. Take, for example, a case Will had recently.
It was 9:30 in the evening, and Will was taking a last look at his e-mail
messages. There was one from Ralph, one of his grandfather’s oldest and
dearest friends. Will was surprised. He hadn’t even known that old Ralph
had a computer. The message had its share of friendly chatter, but it also
contained a problem that had Ralph good and stumped.
Ralph, it seems, was in a charitable
mood and wanted to give a gift of
money to each of his grandkids. He
had decided to split $100 among
them. His idea was to give each
grandchild $5 more than the next
younger grandchild. His question for
Will was, “How much do I give to my
youngest grandchild?”
It was late, and Will was a little tired. The first thing he thought was, How
can I get my, grandfather to think more like Ralph here? Then, without
thinking, Will began to jot down some computations. He figured that he
could solve this little puzzle easily by writing and solving an equation.
Simple. Will wrote the following: = the amount of money the youngest
lucky grandchild would get. Then he stopped. He put down his No. 2 pencil
and sighed. Before he could go any further, he had a question that Ralph
had to answer.
a. What information did Will need before he could solve the gift-giving
problem?
b. Assume that Ralph had 4 grandchildren. Solve the problem now.
16. Membership Boom. There was a surge in math club membership after the
fun Halloween party. When the principal asked Mrs. Germain how many
students were currently in the club, she replied, “Three times our number
plus a third of our number plus a fourth of our number plus you and me is
two hundred sixty.”
The principal smiled and nodded, then added, “If you can pick up another
eight students before your Christmas party you will have exactly 10% of
the student body involved in the club.”
a. How many students are enrolled in the math club?
b. How many students are in the school?
17. An Irritating Inheritance. Nat Kudan never did anything the easy way. He
never did things the easy way when he was a boy. He never did things the easy way
when he was a young man. Now that he’s an old man, he certainly never does things
the easy way.
Nat’s peculiar ways mean more clients for Emma and Will. You see, Nat has a big
family. You can usually find one of them sitting in the detectives’ office with some
kind of mess to untangle. The other day it was Nat’s niece, Libby.
Libby is a nice niece to Nat. No one would say that she wasn’t. Her brothers
Hector and Dave are nice nephews to the old man, too. Yes, Nat has a nice niece
and two nice nephews. He knows this and so, when he made his will, he left a
portion of his wealth to the three of them. He told them, too. This would have
been well and good were it not for Nat’s naughty side.
“You won’t believe this will,” said Libby. “We hope
Uncle Nat lives forever. We love him. But also, if he
does, that may give us enough time to untangle this
will of his.” As she spoke, Libby slid her copy of the
will out a large envelope and placed it before Emma
and Will. She pointed out the part about her and her
brothers.
The twins read it together. What it said was that
Dave, the oldest, was to inherit five times as much money as Libby. Libby, the
youngest, was to inherit two-fifths as much as Hector, the one in the middle. The
will specified that the sum the three would share was $102,000.
“According to what we read here, you three stand to inherit a big pile of cabbage
from Uncle Nat,” said Will.
Libby responded, “That may be true, but why can’t Uncle Nat do anything the easy
way? We can’t figure out how much money each of us will get. Help!”
How much money will Libby, Hector, and Dave get from Uncle Nat?
18. When two people are on opposite ends of a teeter-totter, it will balance if
the product of the weight of person A and her distance from the middle is
equal to the product of person B’s weight and his distance from the middle.
When Ray sits four meters from the middle and Fay sits five meters from
the middle on the other side, the teeter-totter will balance if Fay is
holding her son, Trey. Ray weighs 180 pounds, and Fay weighs 135 pounds.
How many pounds does Trey weigh?
Example
Train Problem. A freight train leaves point A going 50 km/h. Two hours
later, a passenger train leaves A going in the same direction at 80 km/h.
How long will it take the passenger train to catch the freight train?
This is a relative rate problem.
Let t = number of hours for the passenger train to catch up.
In two hours, the freight train has gone 2 x 50 = 100 km.
The passenger train c atches up at a rate of 80 – 50 = 30 km/h
So the passenger train must catch up 100 km at 30 km/h.
distance = rate x time
100 = 30t
3 = t
3 h 20 min.
This example shows a shortcut, using the concept of relative rate. The
passenger train catches up 100 kilometers at a relative rate of 30 km/h.
There are other algebraic ways to do this problem, but the relative rate
technique is far superior.
19. J and K start from 600 km apart and approach each other at constant, but
different, rates. It takes 12 hours for them to meet. If J goes 10 km/h
faster than K, how fast does each one travel?
20. Consuela Lopez drove 20 miles to visit a friend, averaging 25 miles per hour,
and then she took a different route back, averaging the same speed. Her
entire trip took 2 hours. Write and solve an equation to find the distance d
that she drove on the way back.
21. Linda left home and drove for 2 hours. She stopped for lunch then drove
for another 3 hours at a rate that is 10 mph higher than the rate before
she had lunch. If the total distance Linda traveled is 230 miles, what was
the rate before lunch?
Solving Multi-Step Equations – Blue Solutions
1. Coal Shoveling Problem.
a. 16
b. - 3, 10( - 3)
c. 5 days
d. 20 tons
2. Dishwashing Problem.
a. m = minutes Moe working; Fran working: (m – 15)
b. Moe: 9m, Fran: 16(m-15)
c. 9m + 16(m-15) = 760; m=40
d. Moe – 360 dishes, Fran – 400 dishes
3. Plumber Problem.
a. = Nick’s no. of hours
- 4 = Ivan’s no. of hour
b. 30 = Nick’s no. of dollars
20( - 4) = Ivan’s no. of dollars
c. 11 hours
d. Nick $330, Ivan $140
4. 32,400 ft
5. 12 inch
6. First number: 5; second number: 20; third number: 40
7. The numbers are 6 and 18
8. 2 and 8
9. They are 21 and 26 years old
10. They are 12 and 4
PROBLEMS INVOLVING CONSECUTIVE INTEGERS
11. Let the three numbers be x, x + 1 and x + 2. their sum is equal to 366, hence
x + (x + 1) + (x + 2) = 366
Solve for x and find the three numbers
x = 121, x + 1 = 122 and x + 2 = 123
12. The difference between two even integers is equal to 2. let x, x + 2 and x + 4 be the three
numbers. Their sum is equal to 84, hence
x + (x + 2) + (x + 4) = 84
Solve for x and find the three numbers
x = 26, x + 2 = 28 and x + 4 = 30
The three numbers are even. Check that their sum is equal to 84.
13. The difference between two odd integers is equal to 2. let x be an odd integer and x + 2 be
its consecutive. The sum of x and twice its consecutive is equal to 3757 gives an equation of
the form
x + 2(x + 2) = 3757
Solve for x x = 1251
Check that the sum of 1251 and 2(1251 + 2) is equal to 3757.
14. Let x, x + 2, x + 4 and x + 6 be the four integers. The sum of the first two
x + (x + 2)
twice the sum of the last two is written as
2((x + 4) + (x + 6)) = 4x + 20
Sum of the first two added to twice the sum of the last two is equal to 742 is written as
x + (x + 2) + 4x + 20 = 742
Solve for x and find all four numbers
x = 120, x + 2 = 122, x + 4 = 124, x + 6 = 126
As an exercise, check that the sum of the first two added to twice the sum of the last two
is equal to 742
15. A Case of Too Little Information.
a. He needs to know how many grandchildren Ralph has.
b. If Ralph had 4 grandchildren, the problem could be solved by writing and solving the
following equation:
Let = the amount the youngest grandchild gets:
+( + 5) + ( + 10) + ( + 15) = 100
16. Membership Boom.
a. Let n = the number of students in the math club.
3n + n+ n + 2 = 260
3 n + 2 = 260
3 n = 258
n = 72
Then, if the 72 math club students gain 8 more members before the Christmas pageant they
would have a total of 80 members in the Math Club, and 10% of the schools students,
also. 72 + 8 = 80 members.
b. Let n = student population in WHOLE school
=
n = 800 students in the student body.
17. An Irritating Inheritance.
One possible equation to use is + + 5 = 102,000, where represents the
smallest inheritance, the amount of money Libby will receive.
Suggested Solution:
Libby - $12,000; Hector - $30,000; Dave - $60,000
18. Since the teeter-totter is in balance, we can write an equation with the appropriate products
of distance and weight on each side. We can use T for Trey’s unknown weight. 4 x 180 =
5(135 + T ) ; 720 = 675 + 5T; 45 = 5T; 9 = T
. Trey weighs 9 pounds.
Bibliography Information
Teachers attempted to cite the sources for the problems included in this problem set. In some
cases, sources were not known.
Math Counts
18
(http://mathcounts.org)
Algebra I: Expressions,
Equations, and Applications
(Hardcover)~ Paul A.
1 – 3, 19 - 21
Foerster, Addison-Wesley
Publishing Company, Menlo
Park, CA, 1999
Larson, Ron, Laurie Boswell,
4 - 10 Timothy D. Kanold, and Lee
Stiff. A
lgebra 1 Concepts and
Skills. Evanston: McDougal
Littell, 2001. Print.