SAT Math : Equations / Inequalities

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for SAT Math

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Example Questions

Example Question #51 : Equations / Inequalities

Pets Plus makes bird houses.  Their monthly fixed expenses are $750.  The cost for each bird house is $15.  The bird houses sell for $40.

If Pets Plus sells 50 bird houses, what is the profit?

Possible Answers:

\$500

\$300

\$625

\$250

\$750

Correct answer:

\$500

Explanation:

Let x = the number of birdhouses sold each month.

Revenue=40x

Costs=15x+750

Profit = Revenue-Costs 

=40x-15x-750 

=25x-750

Substituting in 50 for x gives an answer of 500, so the profit on 50 birdhouses is $500.

Example Question #52 : Equations / Inequalities

George is three times older than Joey.  The sum of their ages is 16.  What is the product of their ages?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Let  = Joey's age and  = George's age.

Then the equation to solve becomes .

Therefore, Joey is 4 years old and George is 12 years old, so the product of their ages is 48.

Example Question #53 : Equations / Inequalities

Three consecutive even numbers add to 42.  What is the middle number?

Possible Answers:

10

16

12

18

14

Correct answer:

14

Explanation:

Let x = 1st even number, x+2 = 2nd even number, and x+4 = 3rd even number.

Then the equation to solve becomes x+(x+2)+(x+4)=42.

3x+6=42

Thus x=12,x+2=14,\ and\ x+4=16, so the middle number is 14.

Example Question #54 : Equations / Inequalities

Consider the following equation:

Which of the following must be true?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The quantity inside the absolute value brackets must equal either  or , depending on whether the quantity inside the brackets is positive or negative. We therefore have two seperate equations:

To solve the first equation, add 9 to both sides:

Subtract  from both sides:

This is the first solution. Now let's look at the second equation. The distributive law gives us:

Add 9 to both sides:

Add  to both sides:

Divide both sides by 3:

Therefore, is either 4 or 6. 

Statement  does NOT have to be true because  can also equal 4.

Statement  must be true because both 4 and 6 are positive .

Finally, statement  always holds because 4 and 6 are both even. 

Example Question #95 : How To Find The Solution To An Equation

If

,

then 

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Divide both sides by 300 to get .  Subtract 7 and divide by two to get .

Example Question #1 : How To Find The Solution To An Equation

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

Possible Answers:

38

104

108

56

Correct answer:

104

Explanation:

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.

Example Question #2 : How To Find The Solution To An Equation

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

Possible Answers:

15

33

22

47

Correct answer:

33

Explanation:

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

Example Question #3 : How To Find The Solution To An Equation

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?

Possible Answers:

34

24

32

36

Correct answer:

34

Explanation:

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.

Example Question #4 : How To Find The Solution To An Equation

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?

Possible Answers:

7

2

8

5

Correct answer:

5

Explanation:

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.

Example Question #5 : How To Find The Solution To An Equation

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?

Possible Answers:

13

27

22

17

Correct answer:

17

Explanation:

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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