WORD PROBLEMS On solving word problems: 1. Read the problem carefully. As much as possible.

draw a diagram or pictoral representation and/or create a table properly labeled to fully understand the relationships involved in the problem. 2. Determine the quantities that are known and those that are unknown. Represent an unknown quantity by a variable. If possible, express the other unknown quantites in terms on the variable. 3. Set up the equations involving the variable(s) using the relationships stated in the problem or those deduced from the diagram or table. 4. Solve the equation or the system of equations. Afterwards, answer what is being asked for. Do not forget to indicate the units. 5. Check your answer by verifying if the conditions of the problem are satised. Examples of Word Problems 1. Number Problem (a) Find two numbers whose sum is 18 such that when the larger is divided by the smaller, the quotient is 2 and the remainder is 3. (b) The sum of the squares of three consecutive odd intergers is 155. What are the integers? (c) The sum of two numbers is 11. The sum of their reciprocals is 2. Digit Problem (a) If the units digit of a two digit number is six more than the tens digit and the number is eight more that twice the sum of the digits, what is the number? (b) The sum of the digits of a three-digit number is 12. The dierence between the number and the number obtained by reversing the digits is 396. If the hundreds digit is thrice the units digit, what is the number? 3. Age Problem (a) Susan is 9 years older than Envi. Four years ago, the sum of their ages is 17 years. In how many years will Envi be 18 years of age? (b) Rene was 23 years old when his son was born. Two years from now, his age will be three more than twice his sons age. How old is Rene at present? 4. Mixture Problems (a) How many gallons of mixture containing 80% alcohol should be added to 5 gallons of 20% alcohol solution to give a 30% alcohol solution? (b) How much water must be evaporated from a 120ml denatured alcohol that is 30% pure to increase the concentration of the alcohol to 50%? 5. Investment Problem (a) A part of P70,000 is invested at 7% and the remainder at 8%. Find how much is invested at each rate if the income from the 8% investment exceeds the income from the 7% by P1,100. 6. Distance and Motion Problem (a) Two automobiles travelled the same distance. Automoblie A travelled at 50km/h and automobile B at 60km/h. It took A 50 minutes longer to make the trip. How long did it take Automobile B to make the trip? (b) An airplane travels 360 miles with the wind in 1 hour and 20 minutes and returns against the wind in 2 hours and 15 minutes. Find the speed of the airplane in still air and the speed of the wind. (c) Two runners left the starting point at the same time at 1.5 m/s and 1.8 m/s. After two minutes, another runner ran from the same point in the same direction. After some minutes, he overtook the rst runner and another seven minutes later, he overtook the second runner. What is the speed of the third runner.
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What are the numbers?

7. Work Problem (a) Neil can paint a room in 2 hours while Arvie can paint the same room in 4 hours. How many hours can they paint the room if they work together? (b) Carlo, Clyde and Marcky working together can do a job in 6 days. Carlo and Marcky can do the job in 8 days. Clyde and Marcky can do the job in 9 days. Find how long it will take each guy working alone to do the job. (c) A pipe that takes 30 minutes to ll a tank has been running to ll an empty tank. After 10 minutes, it is shut o and then a second pipe was opened and was able to ll the tank in 15 minutes. How long will it take the second pipe alone to ll the tank? 8. Geometry Problems (a) Find the dimensions of a rectangle if its diagonal is 17 inches and its perimeter is 46 inches. (b) The length of a rectangle exceeds its width by 6 units. If each dimension is increased by 3 units, the area will increase by 57 square units. Find the dimensions of the recatngle. (c) A picture of length 12 inches and width 9 inches is framed in wood. What is the uniform width of the frame if the frame has area of 162 square inches? 9. Miscellaneous Problems (a) A boy planted 600 tomato plants arranged neatly and equally into rows. The number of plants per row was ten less than twice the number of rows. How many plants were there in each row? (b) An asistant of a barn told his boss that the chickens and pigs of the farm escaped but they were luckily gathered in a small barn. The asistant also told the owner that he was able to count 40 heads and 136 legs. The owner became angry because he said there are 3 chickens and 2 pigs missing. How many chickens and pigs were there originally?

Courtesy of manjologs and jporlante Compiled by mpona2010