How to find the solution to an equation - ACT Math

Card 0 of 1134

Question

A sequence of numbers is: 2, 5, 8, 11. Assuming it follows the same pattern, what would be the value of the 20th number?

Answer

This goes up at a constant number between values, making it an arthmetic sequence. The first number is 2, with a difference of 3. Plugging this into the arithmetic equation you get An = 2 + 3 (n – 1). Plugging in 20 for n, you get a value of 59.

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Question

The first four numbers of a sequence are 5, 10, 20, 40. Assuming the pattern continues, what is the 6th term of the sequence?

Answer

Looking at the sequence you can see that it doubles each term, making it a geometric sequence. Since it doubles r = 2 and the first term is 5. Plugging this into the geometric equation you get An = 5(2)n–1. Setting n = 6, you get 160 as the 6th term.

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Question

Given f(x) = x2 – 9. What are the zeroes of the function?

Answer

The zeroes of the equation are where f(x) = 0 (aka x-intercepts). Setting the equation equal to zero you get x2 = 9. Since a square makes a negative number positive, x can be equal to 3 or –3.

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Question

Give the lines y = 0.5x+3 and y=3x-2. What is the y value of the point of intersection?

Answer

In order to solve for the x value you set both equations equal to each other (0.5x+3=3x-2). This gives you the x value for the point of intersection at x=2. Plugging x=2 into either equation gives you y=4.

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Question

If 12x + 3 = 2(5x + 5) + 1, what is the value of x?

Answer

Starting with 12x + 3 = 2(5x + 5) + 1, we start by solving the parenthesis, giving us 12x + 3 = 10x + 11. We then subtract 10x from the right side and subtract three from the left, giving us 2x = 8; divide by 2 → x = 4.

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Question

If you multiply two integers together and then add 5, the result is 69. Which of the following could not be the sum of the two integers?

Answer

The equation is xy + 5 = 69, making xy equal to 64. If we factor 64, we see that 1x64, 2x32, 4x16 and 8x8 all equal 16 when the two numbers are added together, so 24 is the only possibility that does not work.

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Question

If 5 + x is 5 more than 5,what is the value of 2_x_?

Answer

5 more than 5 = 10

5 + x = 10

Subtract 5 from each side of the equation: x = 5 → 2_x_ = 10

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Question

Three consecutive positive numbers have the sum of 15. What is the product of these numbers?

Answer

Define the variables as x = the first number, x + 1, the second number, and x + 2 the thrid number.

The sum becomes x + x + 1 + x + 2 = 15 so 3x + 3 = 15. Subtract 3 from both sides of the equation to get 3x = 12 → 3x/3 = 12/3 → x = 4

The three numbers are 4, 5, and 6 and their product is 120.

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Question

A company makes toy boats. Their monthly fixed costs are $1500. The variable costs are $50 per boat. They sell boats for $75 a piece. How many boats must be sold each month to break even?

Answer

The break-even point is where the costs equal the revenues

Fixed Costs + Variable Costs = Revenues

1500 + 50_x_ = 75_x_

Solving for x results in x = 60 boats sold each month to break even.

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Question

A store sells potatoes for $0.24 and tomatoes for $0.76. Fred bought 12 individual vegetables. If he paid $6.52 total, how many potatoes did Fred buy?

Answer

Set up an equation to represent the total cost in cents: 24P + 76T = 652. In order to reduce the number of variables from 2 to 1, let the # tomatoes = 12 – # of potatoes. This makes the equation 24P + 76(12 – P) = 652.

Solving for P will give the answer.

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Question

Kim is twice as old as Claire. Nick is 3 years older than Claire. Kim is 6 years older than Emily. Their ages combined equal 81. How old is Nick?

Answer

The goal in this problem is to have only one variable. Variable “x” can designate Claire’s age.

Then Nick is x + 3, Kim is 2x, and Emily is 2x – 6; therefore x + x + 3 + 2x + 2x – 6 = 81

Solving for x gives Claire’s age, which can be used to find Nick’s age.

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Question

If 6h – 2g = 4g + 3h

In terms of g, h = ?

Answer

If we solve the equation for b, we add 2g to, and subtract 3h from, both sides, leaving 3h = 6g. Solving for h we find that h = 2g.

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Question

If 6_x_ = 42 and xk = 2, what is the value of k?

Answer

Solve the first equation for x by dividing both sides of the equation by 6; the result is 7. Solve the second equation for k by dividing both sides of the equation by x, which we now know is 7. The result is 2/7.

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Question

If 4_x_ + 5 = 13_x_ + 4 – x – 9, then x = ?

Answer

Start by combining like terms.

4_x_ + 5 = 13_x_ + 4 – x – 9

4_x_ + 5 = 12_x_ – 5

–8_x_ = –10

x = 5/4

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Question

If 3 – 3_x_ < 20, which of the following could not be a value of x?

Answer

First we solve for x.

Subtracting 3 from both sides gives us –3_x_ < 17.

Dividing by –3 gives us x > –17/3.

–6 is less than –17/3.

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Question

If , then, in terms of ,

Answer

You can solve this problem by plugging in random values or by simply solving for k. To solve for k, put the s values on one side and the k values on the other side of the equation. First, subtract 4s from both sides. This gives 4s – 6k = –2k. Next, add 6k to both sides. This leaves you with 4s = 4k, which simplifies to s=k. The answer is therefore s.

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Question

What is the value of (5 + x)(10 – y) when x = 3 and y = –3?

Answer

This is a simple plug-in and PEMDAS problem. First, plug in x = 3 and y = –3 into the x and y. You should follow the orders of operation and compute what is within the parentheses first and then find the product. This gives 8 * 13 = 104. The answer is 104.

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Question

If x = 4, and y = 3x + 5, then 2y – 1 equals

Answer

Start by plugging in x = 4 to solve for y: y = 3 * 4 + 5 = 17. Then 2 * 17 – 1 = 33

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Question

Sarah’s current age is three times Ron’s age two years ago. Sarah is currently 14 years older than Ron. What is the sum of Sarah and Ron’s current age?

Answer

The best way to solve this problem is to turn the two statements into equations calling Sarah’s age S and Ron’s age R. So, S = 3(R – 2) and S = 14 + R. Now substitute the value for S in the second equation for the value of S in the first equation to get 14 + R = 3(R – 2) and solve for R. So R equals 10 so S equals 24 and the sum of 10 and 24 is 34.

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Question

What are the values for x that satisfy the equation (x-d)(x+c)=0?

Answer

Set each component of this equation equal to zero and solve for d and c.

(x-d)(x+c)=0

x-d=0

d=0

x+c=0

x=-c

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