Word Problems Involving Systems of Linear Equations

Many word problems will give rise to systems of equations --- that is, a pair of equations like
this:

You can solve a system of equations in various ways. In many of the examples below, I'll use
the whole equation approach. To review how this works, in the system above, I could multiply
the first equation by 2 to get the y-numbers to match, then add the resulting equations:

If I plug into , I can solve for y:

In some cases, the whole equation method isn't necessary, because you can just do a substitution.
You'll see this happen in a few of the examples.
The first few problems will involve items (coins, stamps, tickets) with different prices. If I have
6 tickets which cost $15 each, the total cost is

If I have 8 dimes, the total value is

This is common sense, and is probably familiar to you from your experience with coins and
buying things. But notice that these examples tell me what the general equation should be: The
number of items times the cost (or value) per item gives the total cost (or value). This is where I
get the headings on the tables below.
You'll see that the same idea is used to set up the tables for all of these examples: Figure out
what you'd do in a particular case, and the equation will say how to do this in general.
Example. Calvin has $8.80 in pennies and nickels. If there are twice as many nickels as
pennies, how many pennies does Calvin have? How many nickels?
In this kind of problem, it's good to do everything in cents to avoid having to work with
decimals. So Calvin has 880 cents total.
Let p be the number of pennies. There are twice as many nickels as pennies, so there are
nickels. I'll arrange the information in a table.

Be sure you understand why the equations in the pennies and nickels rows are the way they are:
The number of coins times the value per coin is the total value. If the words seem too abstract to
grasp, try some examples:
If you have 3 nickels, they're worth cents.
If you have 4 nickels, they're worth cents.
If you have 5 nickels, they're worth cents.
So if you have nickels, they're worth cents.
The total value of the coins (880) is the value of the pennies plus the value of the nickels. So I
add the first two numbers in the last column, then solve the resulting equation for p:

Calvin has 80 pennies.
Therefore, he has nickels.

Tables for problems. I'll often arrange the equations for word problems in a table, as I did
above. Roughly:
1. The number of things will go in the first column. This might be the number of tickets, the time
it takes to make a trip, the amount of money invested in an account, and so on.
2. The value per item or rate will go in the second column. This might be the price per ticket, the
speed of a plane, the interest rate (in percent) earned by an investment, and so on.
3. The total value or total amount will go in the third column. This might be the total cost of a
number of tickets, the distance travelled by a car or a plane, the total interest earned by an
investment, and so on.
With this arrangement:

There are many correct ways of doing math problems, and you don't have to use tables to do
these problems. But they are convenient for organizing information --- and they give you a
pattern to get started with problems of a given kind (e.g. interest problems, or time-speed-
distance problems).
In some cases, you add the numbers in some of the columns in a table. In other cases, you set
two of the numbers in a column equal, or subtract one number from another. There is no general
rule for telling which of these things to do: You have to think about what the problem is telling
you.
Example. A total of 78 seats for a concert are sold, producing a total revenue of $483. If seats
cost either $2.50 or $10.50, how many $2.50 seats and how many $10.50 seats were sold?
Suppose x of the $2.50 seats and y of the $10.50 seats were sold.

The first and third columns give the equations

Multiply the second equation by 10 to clear decimals:

Solve the equations by multiplying the first equation by 25 and subtracting it from the second:

Then , so . Thus, 42 of the $2.50 seats and 36 of the $10.50 seats were
sold.

Example. Tickets to a concert cost either $12 or $15. A total of 300 tickets are sold, and the
total receipts were $4140. How many of each kind of ticket were sold?

The first and third columns give the equations

Multiply the first equation by 15 and subtract equations:

Then

There were 120 tickets sold for $12 each and 180 tickets sold for $15 each.

Example. An investor buys a total of 360 shares of two stocks. The price of one stock is $35 per
share, while the price of the other stock is $45 per share. The investor spends a total of $15000.
How many shares of each stock did the investor buy?
Let x be the number of shares of the $35 stock and let y be the number of shares of the $45 stock.

The first and third columns give

Multiply the first equation by 45, then subtract the second equation:

Since , I have . The investor bought 120 shares of the $35
stock and 240 shares of the $45 stock.

The next problem is more complicated than the others, since it involves solving a system
of three equations with three variables. You'll see that I do it by substitution. If you take more
advanced courses (such as linear algebra), you'll learn methods for solving systems like these
which are like the whole equation method. They involve representing the equations
using matrices.
Example. Phoebe has some 32-cent stamps, some 29-cent stamps, and some 3-cent stamps. The
number of 29-cent stamps is 10 less than the number of 32-cent stamps, while the number of 3-
cent stamps is 5 less than the number of 29-cent stamps. The total value of the stamps is $9.45.
How many of each stamp does she have?
I will do everything in cents.
I'll let x be the number of 32-cent stamps, let y be the number of 29-cent stamps, and let z be the
number of 3-cent stamps. Here's the table.

The last column says

The number of 29-cent stamps is 10 less than the number of 32-cent stamps, so

The number of 3-cent stamps is 5 less than the number of 29-cent stamps, so

I want to get everything in terms of one variable, so I have to pick a variable to use. Since the
last two equations both involve y, I'll do everything in terms of y.
z is already solved for in terms of y, since . I'll solve for x in terms of y:

Plug and into and solve for y:

Then

Phoebe has 20 32-cent stamps, 10 29-cent stamps, and 5 3-cent stamps.

The next problem is about numbers. The setup will give two equations, but I don't need to solve
them using the whole equation approach as I did in other problems. Since one variable is already
solved for in the second equation, I can just substitute for it in the first equation.
Example. The sum of two numbers is 90. The larger number is 14 more than 3 times the
smaller number. Find the numbers.
Let L be the larger number and let S be the smaller number. The sum is 90:

The larger number is 14 more than 3 times the smaller number:

Plug into the first equation and solve:

Then . The numbers are 19 and 71.

The next set of examples involve simple interest. Here's how it works. Suppose you invest $600
(the principal) in an account which pays simple interest. At the end of one interest period,
the interest you earn is

You now have dollars in your account.
Notice that you multiply the amount invested (the principal) by the interest rate (in percent) to
get the amount of interest earned.
By the way --- How does "percent" fit the pattern of the earlier problems, where I had things like
"dollars per ticket" or "cents per nickel"? In fact, "percent" is short for "per centum",
and centum is the Latin word for a hundred. So "4 percent" means "4 per 100". Since "per"
translates to division, I get , as you probably know from earlier math courses.
Example. $6000 is divided between two accounts, one paying interest and the other
paying interest. At the end of one interest period, the interest earned by the account
exceeds the interest earned by the account by $65. How much was invested in each account?

I have

Rewrite the equations:

Clear the decimals by multiplying the second equation by 100:

Multiply the first equation by 3 and subtract equations to solve for y:

Then

$2500 was invested at and $3500 was invested at .

Example. Bonzo invests some money at interest. He also invests $1700 more than twice
that amount at interest. At the end of one interest period, the total interest earned was $278.
How much was invested at each rate?

The last column gives an equation which can be solved for x:

Then , so $2100 was invested at and $5900 was invested at .

There are various kinds of mixture problems. The first few involve mixtures of different things
which cost different amounts per pound. For instance, if you have 4 pounds of candy which costs
$2 per pound, the total cost of the candy is

In other words, the number of pounds times the price per pound is the total cost.
Example. Calvin mixes candy that sells for $2.00 per pound with candy that costs $3.60 per
pound to make 50 pounds of candy selling for $2.16 per pound. How many pounds of each kind
of candy did he use in the mix?

The first and third columns give two equations:

Multiply the first equation by 2 and subtract equations:

Then

He used 45 pounds of the $2 candy and 5 pounds of the $3.60 candy.

Example. Phoebe wants to mix raisins worth $1.60 per pounds with nuts worth $2.45 per pound
to make 17 pounds of a mixture worth $2 per pound. How many pounds of raisins and how many
pounds of nuts should she use?
Suppose she uses x pounds of raisins and y pounds of dried fruit.

The first and third columns give the equations

Multiply the second equation by 100 to clear the decimals. This gives

Solve the equations by multiplying the first equation by 160 and subtracting it from the second:

Hence, and . She needs 8 pounds of raisins and 9 pounds of nuts.

Mixture problems do not always wind up with two equations to solve. Here's an example where
the setup gives a single equation.
Example. How many pounds of coffee worth $4 per pound must be mixed with 20 pounds of
Elmer's Glue worth $2 per pound to obtain a mixture worth $3.60 per pound?
Let x be the number of pounds of coffee. Set up a table:

The last line says . Solve for x:

You will need 80 pounds of coffee.

An alloy is a mixture of different kinds of metals. Suppose you have 50 pounds of an alloy
which is silver. Then the number of pounds of (pure) silver in the 50 pounds is

That is, the 50 pounds of alloy consists of 10 pounds of pure silver and pounds of
other metals.
Notice that you multiply the number of pounds of alloy by the percentage of silver to get the
number of pounds of (pure) silver.
Example. Phoebe mixes an alloy containing silver with an alloy containing silver to
make 100 pounds of an alloy with silver. How many pounds of each kind of alloy did she
use?

The first and third columns give two equations:

Multiply the second equation by 100 to clear decimals:

Multiply the first equation by 14 and subtract equations:

Then

She used 60 pounds of the alloy and 40 pounds of the alloy.

Other mixture problems involve solutions. For instance, a solution may be acid, or
alcohol. What does this mean? Suppose you have 80 gallons of a solution which is acid.
Then the number of gallons of (pure) acid in the solution is

So you can think of the 80 gallons of solution as being made of 16 gallons of pure acid
and gallons of pure water.
Notice that you multiply the gallons of solution by the percentage of acid to get the number of
gallons of (pure) acid.
Example. How many gallons of each of a acid solution and an acid solution must be
mixed to produce 50 gallons of a acid solution?

The first and third columns give the equations

Multiply the second equation by 10 to clear the decimals:

Multiply the first equation by 6 and subtract equations:

Then

Use 15 gallons of the solution and 35 gallons of the solution.

Example. Amounts of a alcohol solution and a alcohol solution are to be mixed to
produce 24 gallons of a alcohol solution. How many gallons of the alcohol solution
and how many gallons of the alcohol solution should be used?
Suppose x gallons of the alcohol solution and y gallons of the alcohol solution are
used.

The first and third columns give the equations

Multiply the second equation by 100 to clear decimals:

Solve the equations by multiplying the first equation by 65 and subtracting the second:

Then , so . Thus, 16 gallons of the solution and 8 gallons of the
solution must be used.

Two angles are complementary if their sum is --- that is, if they add up to a right angle.
For example, and are complementary, because

Example. Two angles are complementary, and the larger one is more than 3 time the
smaller one. Find the angles.
Let L be the larger angle, and let S be the smaller angle. The angles are complementary:

The larger one is more than 3 time the smaller one:

Plug into and solve for S:

Then . The smaller angle is and the larger angle is .

Example. Two angles are complementary. One angle is less than twice the other. Find the
two angles.
The sum is :

One angle is less than twice the other:

Plug into the first equation and solve:

Then . The angles are and .






"Age" Word Problems (page 1 of 2)
In January of the year 2000, I was one more than eleven times as old as my son
William. In January of 2009, I was seven more than three times as old as him. How old
was my son in January of 2000?
Obviously, in "real life" you'd have walked up to my kid and and asked him how old he
was, and he'd have proudly held up three grubby fingers, but that won't help you on
your homework. Here's how you'd figure out his age for class:
First, name things and translate the English into math: Let "E " stand for my age in
2000, and let "W " stand for William's age. Then E = 11W + 1 in the year 2000 (from
"eleven times as much, plus another one"). In the year 2009 (nine years after the year
2000), William and I will each be nine years older, so our ages will be E + 9 and W + 9.
Also, I was seven more than three times as old as William was, soE + 9 = 3(W + 9) + 7 =
3W + 27 + 7 = 3W + 34. This gives you two
equations, each having two variables:
E = 11W + 1
E + 9 = 3W + 34
If you know how to solve systems of
equations, you can proceed with those
techniques. Otherwise, you can use the
first equation to simplify the second:
since E = 11W + 1, plug "11W + 1 " in for
"E " in the second equation:
E + 9 = 3W + 34
(11W + 1) + 9 = 3W + 34
11W 3W = 34 9 1
8W = 24
W = 3

Remember that the problem did not ask for the value of the variable W; it asked for the
age of a person. So the answer is: William was three years old in January of 2000.

The important steps above were to set up the variables, labelling them all clearly with
their definitions, and then to increment the variables by the required amount (in this
case, by 9) to reflect the passage of time. Don't try to use the same expression to stand
for two different things. If "E " stands for my age in 2000, then "E " can not also stand for
my age in 2009. Make sure that you are very explicit about this when you set up your
equations; write down the two sets of information (our ages at the first time, and then
our ages at the second time) as two distinct situations.

In three more years, Miguel's grandfather will be six times as old as Miguel
was last year. When Miguel's present age is added to his grandfather's
present age, the total is68. How old is each one now? Copyright Elizabeth
Stapel 2000-2011 All Rights Reserved
This exercise refers not only to their present ages, but also to both their ages last
year and their ages in three years, so labelling will be very important. I will label
Miguel's present age as "m" and his grandfather's present age as "g".
Then m + g = 68. Miguel's age "last year" was m 1. His grandfather's age "in
ADVERTISEMENT


three more years" will be g + 3. The grandfather's "age three years from now" is
six times Miguel's "age last year" or, in math:
g + 3 = 6(m 1)
This gives me two equations with two variables:
m + g = 68
g + 3 = 6(m 1)
Solving the first equation, I get m = 68 g. (Note: It's okay to solve for "g = 68 m",
too. The problem will work out a bit differently in the middle, but the answer will
be the same at the end.) I'll plug "68 g" into the second equation in place of "m":
g + 3 = 6m 6
g + 3 = 6(68 g) 6
g + 3 = 408 6g 6
g + 3 = 402 6g
g + 6g = 402 3
7g = 399
g = 57
Since "g" stands for the grandfather's current age, then the grandfather is 57
years old. Sincem + g = 68, then m = 11, and Miguel is presently eleven years
old.
One-half of Heather's age two years from now plus one-third of her age
three years ago is twenty years. How old is she now?
This problem refers to Heather's age two years in the future and three years in
the past. So I'll pick a variable and label everything clearly:
age now: H
age two years from now: H + 2
age three years ago: H 3
Now I need certain fractions of these ages:
one-half of age two years from now: (
1
/
2
)(H + 2) =
H
/
2
+ 1
one-third of age three years ago: (
1
/
3
)(H 3) =
H
/
3
1
The sum of these two numbers is twenty, so I'll add them and set this equal to 20:
H
/
2
+ 1 +
H
/
3
1 = 20
H
/
2
+
H
/
3
= 20
3H + 2H = 120
5H = 120
H = 24
Heather is 24 years old.
Note: Remember that you can always check your answer to any "solving" exercise by
plugging that answer back into the original problem. If Heather is 24 now, then she will
be 26 in two years, half of which is 13, and she was 21 three years ago, a third of which
is 7. Adding, I get 13 + 7 = 20, so the solution works.

The following puzzler is an old one, but it keeps cropping up in various forms...

"Age" Word Problems (page 2 of 2)
"Here lies Diophantus," the wonder behold . . .
Through art algebraic, the stone tells how old:
"God gave him his boyhood one-sixth of his life,
One twelfth more as youth while whiskers grew rife;
And then yet one-seventh ere marriage begun;
In five years there came a bouncing new son.
Alas, the dear child of master and sage
After attaining half the measure of his fathers life
chill fate took him.
After consoling his fate by this science of numbers
for four years, he ended his life."
Find Diophantus' age at death.
My first task is to "translate" the poetry from the headstone into practical terms:
o "Boyhood" can stand for pre-adolscent childhood; he spent one-sixth of
his life in this period. Copyright Elizabeth Stapel 2000-2011 All Rights
Reserved
o "Youth while whiskers grew" can stand for pubescence (the teenage
years, into young adulthood); he spent one-twelfth of his life in this period.
o "Ere marriage began" can stand for "unmarried adulthood" or
"bachelorhood"; he spent one-seventh of his life in this period.
o He had five years between the wedding and the time his first child was
born.
o Tragically, this child died young, living only half as long as his father
eventually would; looked at the other way, half of Diophantus' life was
spent while his child was alive.
o Diophantus died four years after burying his child.
I will let d stand for
Diophantus' age at death.
Then:
childhood:
d
/
6

adolescence:
d
/
12

bachelorhood:
d
/
7

childless marriage: 5
age of child at
death:
d
/
2

life after child's
death: 4
His whole life had been
divided into intervals which,
when added together, give the sum of his life. So I'll add the lengths of those
periods, set their sum equal to his (as-yet unknown) total age, and solve:

.
d
/
6
+
d
/
12
+
d
/
7
+ 5 +
d
/
2
+ 4 = d
(
25
/
28
)d + 9 = d
9 = d (
25
/
28
)d
9 = (
3
/
28
)d
84 = d
Diophantus lived to be 84 years old.
You can check the answer if you like, by plugging "84" into the original problem. If he
lived to be 84, then one-sixth of his life is 14years, one-twelfth of his life is 7 years (so
he'd be 21, and he certainly should have a beard by this age), one-seventh of his life
is 12years (so he didn't marry until he was 33 years old), his child was born when he
was 38, the boy died at 42 (when Diophantus was 80), and then Diophantus died four
years later.

Always try to label your variables and expressions clearly, as this will go a long way
toward helping you get your equations set up correctly. And remember that you can
always check your answers (like I did on the last example above); checking your
answers is an especially good idea on tests.









Question 126539: If a boat goes downstream 72 miles in 3 hours and upstream 60
miles in 6 hours, the rate of the river and the rate of the boat in still water
respectively are ________?

The basic formula to remember here is or
distance/time = rate
1. First we need a rate of speed for travel both downstream and upstream.
a. Downstream:
The boat travelled 72 miles in 3 hours or miles per hour.
b. Upstream:
The boat travelled 60 miles in 6 hours or miles per hour.
2. Now that we have these rates we can establish some variables
Let x = the rate of the boat in still water
Let y = the rate of the river
Let x + y = 24 (downstream rate of boat)
Let x - y = 10 (upstream rate of boat)
3. Add the 2 equations:


+



3. Substite and solve for y:



4. Check using the other equation:



This is true so our answers are correct.
The boat's speed in still water is 17 mph.
The rate of the river is 7 mph.


Question 285932: Upstream, downstream. Juniors boat will go 15 miles per hour
in still water. If he can go 12 miles downstream in the same amount of time as it
takes to go 9 miles upstream, then what is the speed of the current?


D = R*T, where D=distance, R=rate of speed, and T=time
.
S = speed in calm water = 15
C = current speed
S-C = speed going upstream
S+C = speed going downstream
.
T = D/R
.
Upstream...
T = 9/(S-C)
.
Downstream...
T = 12/S
.
Transitive property lets us eliminate T...which is good since we don't know
what T is...
9/(S-C) = 12/S
.
Cross multiply...
9S = 12*(S-C) = 12S - 12C
.
Substitute S=15...

9(15) = 12(15) - 12C
.
135 = 180 - 15C
.
Add 15C to both sides...
15C + 135 = 180
.
Subtract 135 from both sides...
15C = 45
.
Divide both sides by 15
C = 3 = current speed
.
Checking the answer by checking the time up and downstream..
.
T = 9/(S-C) = 9/9 = 1 hr
.
T = 15/(S+C) = 15/(12+3) = 15/15 = 1 hr
.
Correct.
.
Answer:
The current is 3 mph.


A boat travels 18 km downstream in 2 hours. It requires 6
hours to travel back to its original starting point upstream.
What is the rate of the boat in still water and what is the
rate of the current?

Given: Upstream Time = 6 HOURS
Given: Downstream Time = 2 HOURS
Given: Distance = 18 KILOMETERS Distance
Find V Speed in still water
Find C = Speed of Current
(V+C) * 2 = 18 Downstream Equation
(V-C) * 6 = 18 Upstream Equation

V+C = 18/2
V-C = 18/6

2V = 18/2 + 18/6
V = 6 KM/H

6 + C = 9
C = 3 KM/H

C = 3 KM/H



Algebra Help: How to Solve Boat-in-the-River Word Problems

Another common math word problem that the Algebra student should know how to
solve are the "boat-in-the-river" word problems. These are actually just a variation of the
dreaded uniform motion word problems which I've discussed in two previous articles.
With the boat in the river problems, we assume that the boat has a uniform speed in still
water and that the speed of the water (or the speed of the river current) is constant. The
Algebra student will be presented with a math word problem in which he must solve for
the speed of the boat (in still water, implied), or the speed of the river current, or the
time spent going upstream or the time going downstream or some combination of these
variables.
With these problems, Saxon uses the following variables:
B = speed of the boat in still water
W = the speed of the water (or the rate of the river current)
Td = time spent going downstream
Tu = time spent going upstream
Dd = distance gone downstream
Du = distance gone upstream
As with other uniform motion word problems, an important algebraic equation to
remember is:
Distance = Rate * Time
With the boat-in-the-river math problem, we modify this slightly when we are going
downstream to get:
Dd = (B + W) * Td
That is, the speed (or rate) of the boat going downstream is the speed of the boat in still
water plus the speed of the water (or river current). That is because when one is going
downstream, the river works with you.
When a boat is going upstream, the river works against you so we have to change our
distance equation to reflect this by subtracting the speed of the water from the speed of
the boat to get our rate:
Du = (B - W) * Tu
The best way to understand how to solve these is to work through a couple examples.
Sample Boat-in-the-River Word Problem #1:
Hannah and Fred can go 45 miles downstream in their boat in the same time it takes
them to go 15 miles upstream. If the speed of the current was 3 mph, what was the speed
of their boat in still water and how long did it take for them to go 45 miles downstream?
With these kinds of word problems I recommend to the Algebra student that you always
start out by writing down the two essential distance equations, before anything else:
Dd = (B + W) * Td
Du = (B - W) * Tu
Secondly we need to write down the information we know from dissecting the text of the
word problem.
Dd = 45
Td = Tu = T
(Since we know that the two times are the same, let's just use T for our time variable)
Du = 15
W = 3
Now we can plug in our known values to get our system of two equations:
45 = (B + 3) * T
15 = (B - 3) * T
Simplify and rearrange the equations so that they are easier to solve:
B*T + 3T = 45
B*T - 3T = 15
We see that we can easily add the two equations to get a value for B*T:
2B*T = 60
B*T = 30
We can now substitute B*T into the first equation (or the second, either would work) to
solve for T:
30 + 3T = 45
3T = 15
T = 5
Which then tells us that B = 6.
The speed of the boat is 6 mph and the time spent going downstream (which is the same
as the time spent going upstream) was 5 hours.
Sample Boat-in-the-River Word Problem #2:
The boat Murphy's Law could go 91 miles downstream in 7 hours, but required 12 hours
to go 84 miles upstream. What were the speed of the current and the speed of the boat
in still water?
Our essential equations:
Dd = (B + W) * Td
Du = (B - W) * Tu
Known values from the word problem:
Dd = 91
Td = 7
Tu = 12
Du = 84
Plug in the values to get our equations:
91 = (B + W) * 7
84 = (B - W) * 12
Simplify and rearrange the equations:
7B + 7W = 91
12B - 12W = 84
We now must modify these two equations so that we can add them together to eliminate
the W variable. We can do this by multiplying the top equation by 12 and the bottom
equation by 7:
84B + 84W = 1092
84B - 84W = 588
Adding the two equations gives us:
168B = 1680
B = 10
Plug in the B to the original first equation to solve for W:
7(10) + 7W = 91
7W = 21
W = 3
The speed of the boat was 10 mph and the speed of the current (water) was 3 mph.