Equations with more than One Variable

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College Algebra › Equations with more than One Variable

Questions 1 - 10
1

Solve for X and Y with the following set of equations:

Explanation

There are 2 ways to solve this set of equations. First, you can solve for one of the variables, then substitute that value for the variable in the other equation. The other way is to add the equations together (combine), and to do this, sometimes multiplying one of the equation by a positive or negative number is required. Let's see how we can do this:

Remember the key is to add the two equations together and eliminate one of the variables:

Look at the x and y variables. Notice how if we added the two equations together, we can eliminate the x variable and we can thus solve for y:

So now, add the two equations together:

We got this buy adding 4y + 2y and 22+2. Now let's divide the equation by 6, so we can solve the value of y.

so

Now plug the known value of y into either of the two equations. Let's use the top equation. Remember it doesn't matter which equation you pick to solve for x:

If you want to double-check your answers, just insert your values of x and y into the equation, and remember that since it's an equation, both sides will be equal.

2

Solve for x and y in the following pair of equations

Explanation

There are 2 ways to solve this set of equations. First, you can solve for one of the variables, then substitute that value for the variable in the other equation. The other way is to add the equations together (combine), and to do this, sometimes multiplying one of the equation by a positive or negative number is required. Let's see how we can do this:

Remember the key is to add the two equations together and eliminate one of the variables:

In this case, you can see how if you add the two equations together, the y variable is eliminated, since y and -y eliminate each other:

When you combine the two equations, you get:

Divide both sides by 16 to solve for x:

To solve for y, plug in the value of x into either equation.

Let's pick the top equation:

Now subtract 18 from each side to solve for y:

You can check your answers by plugging your answers into either of the two equations. Since it is an equation, both sides will be equal if your answers are correct.

3

Solve for X and Y for the following pair of equations

Explanation

There are two ways to solve for x and y in a pair of equations. One way is to add the two equations together and eliminate one of the variables. It may be necessary to multiply one equation by a positive or negative number in order to cancel out one of the variables. The second way is to pick one of the equations and solve for one of the variables. Let's pick the top equation and solve for x:

Now substitute x on the other (bottom) equation:

Now, since we know the value of y, use either equation and "plug in" the value of y:

To check your answers, you can plug in both answers to either equation, and since they are equations, if both sides are equal, your answers are correct.

4

The town of Marysville is hosting its annual festival. For admission tickets, adults are charged $8, and children are charged $4. The town sold 2300 tickets and took in $13,688 in total ticket revenue. How many more children were admitted to the festival than adults?

56

64

72

88

100

Explanation

This question requires setting up two equations and then solving the system of two equations. One equation represents the total number of tickets sold, and the other equation represents the total revenue. Both equations will use the same two variables, and , for the number of children and adults who were admitted, respectively.

The first equation is the easier of the two. The sum of the number of children and the number of adults admitted to the fair will equal 2300.

The second equation will incorporate the price charged to children and adults

Children's tickets cost $4 and adults' tickets cost $8. The total amount of money raised was $13,688.

To solve the system of equations, you can eliminate one of the variables. One way to do this is via the elimination method. To eliminate

Now add the two equations together to eliminate a variable.

--------------------------------

Solve for .

Substitute into either of the original equations and solve for .

There were 1178 children and 1122 adults admitted to the festival. Finally, subtract the results.

5

Solve for x and y in the following pair of equations

Explanation

There are two ways to solve for x and y in a pair of equations. One way is to add the two equations together, eliminating one of the variables. This may require multiplying one of the equations by a positive or negative number. The other method is to pick one of the equations and solve for one of the variables. Then plug the value you found for the variable into the other equation and solve for a variable. Then you will plug in the solved value for that variable into either equation and solve for the other equation. Remember, you can solve for x and y using either of these methods. This time, let's solve for x then substitute that value into the other equation:

Let's solve for x using the bottom equation. It would be easier than to divide the top equation by 4 to solve for x: So let's subtract 3y from each side in order to solve for x:

Now just plug this into the other (top) equation to solve for y

Now subtract 64 from both sides to isolate y:

Now divide both sides by -11 to solve for y:

Now just plug in the known value of y into either of the equations in order to solve for x. Let's pick the top equation:

Now subtract three from each side:

Now divide both sides by four to solve for x:

If you want to check your answers, plug in both values of x and y into either equation, and since it's an equation, both sides will be equal if your answers are correct.

6

Solve for x and y in the following pair of equations

Explanation

There are two ways to solve for x and y in this pair of equations. First, you can add the two equations together and cancel out one of the variables. In this case, you can see that there is no need to multiply one of the equations by a positive or negative number, as 2y and -2y already cancel each other out. The second way is to solve for one of the variables, then substitute that value into the other equation to solve for the other variable. In this case, I will show how to add both equations together to solve for x and y since the equations as they are cancel the y variable out.

You can see how adding the two equations cancel the y variable.

now just divide both sides by four to solve for x:

now just plug the value of x into either equation to solve for y.

Let's pick the top equation:

now subtract 1 from each side to isolate y:

now divide both sides by two to solve for y:

You can check your answers by plugging them into either equation, and since they are equations, both sides will be equal if the answers are correct.

7

Solve for x:

Explanation

Multiply the first equation by two.

Add both equations to cancel out the y-variable.

Divide by three on both sides.

The answer is:

8

Solve for x and y in the following pair of equations

Explanation

There are two ways to solve for x and y in this pair of equations. First, you can add the two equations together and cancel out one of the variables. In this case, you can see that there is no need to multiply one of the equations by a positive or negative number, as y and -y already cancel each other out. The second way is to solve for one of the variables, then substitute that value into the other equation to solve for the other variable. In this case, I will show how to add both equations together to solve for x and y since the equations as they are cancel the y variable out.

after adding the two equations, the result is:

(note how the y variable eliminated itself)

Now just divide both sides by 7 to solve for x:

now just plug in the value of x into either equation to solve for y.

Let's pick the top equation:

now subtract 4 from each side to solve for y:

You can check your answers by plugging them into either equation, and since they are equations, both sides will be equal if your answers are correct.

9

Larry has a handful of dimes and quarters. In total, he has 14 coins with a value of $2.60. How many of each coin does he have?

6 Dimes

8 Quarters

8 Dimes

6 Quarters

7 Dimes

7 Quarters

10 Dimes

4 Quarters

9 Dimes

5 Quarters

Explanation

Since this problems has 2 variables (D-dimes and Q-quarters) we need 2 equations. Because Larry has 14 coins, the first equation can be written as:

The value of those coins equals $2.60 or 260 cents. If Dimes are worth 10C and quarters are 25C, the next equation can be written as

To solve this write both equations on top of each other

Now we eliminate 1 variable by multiplying 1 equation by the lowest common denominator (as a negative) and adding the equations together.

becomes

adding the equations

-----------------------------------

now we solve for Q.

Since we know Q, now we plug it back in to an equation and find D

Larry has 6 dimes and 8 quarters

10

Solve for x and y in the following pair of equations

Explanation

There are two ways to solve for x and y in a pair of equations. First, you can combine (add) the two equations together and eliminate one variable. In this case, that would require multiplying the top equation by -2 in order to eliminate the x variable, since 4x and -4x will cancel out, making it able to solve for y. The second method is to solve for one of the variables, then plug in its value into the other equation. Let's do this method for this problem. First, let's solve for x for the top equation:

First, isolate x by adding 2y to both sides:

Now divide both sides by -2 to solve for x:

So now, plug in this value into the other (bottom) equation to solve for y:

now add 24 to both sides to isolate y:

now just divide both sides by 7 to solve for y:

now plug in the value of y into either equation to solve for x:

Let's pick the top equation:

now add two to both sides to isolate x:

now divide both sides by -2 to solve for x:

You can check your answers by plugging them into either equation, and since it's an equation, both sides will be equal if your answers are correct.

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