Examples with solutions for Solving Equations by using Addition/ Subtraction: Worded problems

Exercise #1

The total number of balls found by David and Camila is 16.

David finds 8 more balls than Camila.

Work out how many balls are found by Camila.

Step-by-Step Solution

To solve this problem, we'll follow these steps:

  • Step 1: Define the variable for Camila's balls.
  • Step 2: Set up an equation to sum their findings.
  • Step 3: Solve the equation for Camila's ball count.

Now, let's work through each step:

Step 1: Let x x be the number of balls Camila finds.
Step 2: According to the problem, David finds 8 more balls than Camila, so he finds x+8 x + 8 balls.
Therefore, the equation representing the total number of balls is:
x+(x+8)=16 x + (x + 8) = 16 .

Step 3: Simplify and solve for x x :

x+x+8=16 x + x + 8 = 16

Combine like terms:

2x+8=16 2x + 8 = 16

Subtract 8 from both sides:

2x=8 2x = 8

Divide both sides by 2:

x=4 x = 4

Therefore, the number of balls found by Camila is 4 4 .

Answer

4 4

Exercise #2

Luciana's age is 3 times Ivana's age.

Hector is 10 years younger than Luciana.

The sum of the three ages is 32.

How old is Hector?

Step-by-Step Solution

To solve this problem, let's define the variables and set up the equation:

  • Let Ivana's age be x x .
  • Then, Luciana's age is 3x 3x , since her age is three times Ivana's age.
  • Hector, being 10 years younger than Luciana, would be 3x10 3x - 10 .

We know the sum of their ages is 32, so we set up the equation:

x+3x+(3x10)=32 x + 3x + (3x - 10) = 32

Simplify the equation:

x+3x+3x10=32 x + 3x + 3x - 10 = 32

7x10=32 7x - 10 = 32

Next, solve for x x :

Add 10 to both sides:

7x=42 7x = 42

Divide both sides by 7:

x=6 x = 6

Now that we know Ivana is 6 years old, we can find Hector's age:

Hector's age = 3x10=3(6)10=1810=8 3x - 10 = 3(6) - 10 = 18 - 10 = 8

Therefore, Hector is 8 years old.

Answer

8 8

Exercise #3

A man buys 3 kg of apples and 5 kg of cucumbers for 48.<br><br>Thepriceof1kgofapplesis48.<br><br>The price of 1 kg of apples is 8 more expensive than the price of 1 kg of cucumbers.

What is the price of 1 kg of cucumbers?

Step-by-Step Solution

To solve this problem, we'll follow these steps:

  • Step 1: Identify the prices of apples and cucumbers in terms of a variable.
  • Step 2: Set up the equation for the total cost.
  • Step 3: Solve the equation to find the price of cucumbers.

Now, let's work through each step:

Step 1: Let the price per kg of cucumbers be c c dollars. Thus, the price per kg of apples is c+8 c + 8 dollars.

Step 2: Express the total cost of the items:

For 3 kg of apples: 3×(c+8) 3 \times (c + 8)
For 5 kg of cucumbers: 5×c 5 \times c

These add up to give the total cost:

3(c+8)+5c=48 3(c + 8) + 5c = 48

Step 3: Solve the equation.

Expand the equation:

3c+24+5c=48 3c + 24 + 5c = 48

Combine like terms:

8c+24=48 8c + 24 = 48

Subtract 24 from both sides:

8c=24 8c = 24

Divide by 8:

c=3 c = 3

Therefore, the price of 1 kg of cucumbers is 3 3 dollars.

Answer

3 3

Exercise #4

Daniela goes to the bookshop and buys 4 pens and 9 notebooks for a total of $51.

The price of a pen is twice as much as the price of a notebook.

How much is a pen?

Step-by-Step Solution

We will identify the price of the notebook with x and since the price of the pen is 2 times greater we will mark the price of the pen with 2x

The resulting equation is 4 times the price of a pen plus 9 times the price of a notebook = 51

Now we replace and obtain the following equation:

\( 4\times2x+9\times x=51

According to the rules of the order of arithmetic operations, multiplication and division operations precede addition and subtraction, therefore we will first solve the two multiplication exercises and then add them up:

(4×2x)+(9×x)=51 (4\times2x)+(9\times x)=51

(4×2x)=8x (4\times2x)=8x

(9×x)=9x (9\times x)=9x

8x+9x=17x 8x+9x=17x

Now the obtained equation is: 17x=51 17x=51

We divide both sides by 17 and find x

x=5117=3 x=\frac{51}{17}=3

As we discovered that x is equal to 3, we will place it accordingly and find out the price of a pen:2×x=2×3=6 2\times x=2\times3=6

Answer

6 6

Exercise #5

The number of pages in file A is 8 times greater than the number of pages in file B.

If we add 35 pages to file B, both files will have the same number of pages.

Calculate the number of pages in file A.

Step-by-Step Solution

To solve this problem, we'll perform the following steps:

  • Step 1: Define x x as the number of pages in file B.
  • Step 2: Express the number of pages in file A as 8x 8x .
  • Step 3: Establish the equation based on the problem statement: 8x=x+35 8x = x + 35 .
  • Step 4: Solve the equation for x x .
  • Step 5: Calculate the number of pages in file A using the relationship 8x 8x .

Now, let's solve it step by step:
Step 1: Let x x represent the number of pages in file B.

Step 2: The number of pages in file A is 8 times that of file B, so it is 8x 8x .

Step 3: Form the equation based on adding 35 pages to file B: 8x=x+35 8x = x + 35 .

Step 4: Solve for x x :
Subtract x x from both sides to consolidate terms:
8xx=x+35x 8x - x = x + 35 - x
This simplifies to 7x=35 7x = 35 .

Step 5: Solve for x x by dividing both sides by 7:
x=357=5 x = \frac{35}{7} = 5 .

Now, substitute back to find the number of pages in file A:
The number of pages in file A is 8x=8×5=40 8x = 8 \times 5 = 40 .

Therefore, the number of pages in file A is 40 40 .

Answer

40 40

Exercise #6

Mariana has 3 daughters.

The first daughter is 2 times older than the second daughter.

The second daughter is 5 times older than the third daughter.

If we increase the age of the third daughter by 12 years, she will be the same age as the second daughter.

How old is the the first daughter?

Step-by-Step Solution

In the first step, we will try to use variables to change the exercise from verbal to algebraic.

Let's start with the third daughter and define her age as X.

The second daughter, as written, is 5 times older than her, so we will define her age as 5X.

The first daughter is 2 times older than the second daughter, so we will define her age as 2*5X, that is, 10X.

 

Now let's look at the other piece of information: it is known that if we increase the age of the third daughter by 12 years, then she will be the same age as the second sister.

So we will write X+12 (the third daughter plus another 12 years)

=

5X (age of the second daughter)

X + 12 = 5X

 

Once we have an equation, we can solve it. First, we'll move the sections:

5X-X=12

4X=12

We divide by 4:

X=3

 

But this is not the solution!

Remember, we were asked for the age of the first daughter, which is 10X

We replace the X we found:

10*3 = 30

This is the solution!

Answer

30 30