MATH! PLEASE HELP (story problems/ equations)

Question

write an equation for each story problem...

 

#1)) jessie had candy to give to her friends. she first took 10 pieces for herself and then evenly divided it among her friends. each friend recieved 2 pieces. how many pieces did she start with?

 

#2)) Kate sold half her books and then bought 16 more. she now has 36. how many did she begin with?

 

#3)) on tuesday jade bought 5 shoes. on Wednesday half of all the shoes she had were destroyed. on Thursday there was only 17 left. how many did she have on Monday? 

 

4)) the sum of 3 numbers is 72 what are the smallest of these numbers?

 

Answer 1

1)

 

For this problem, you need to know how many friends Jessie has.

 

 

2)

 

Let x = number of books Kate began with. You can set up an equation by turning the story problem into a math problem:

 

"Kate sold half her books...": x/2

"...and then bought 16 more.": + 16

"She now has 36.": = 36

 

So, x/2 + 16 = 36

 

Solve for x:

 

x/2 + 16 = 36

x/2 = 36 - 16

x/2 = 20

x = 2(20)

x = 40 books

 

 

3)

 

Let x = number of books Jade had on Monday. Again, you can turn the story problem into a math problem:

 

"On Tuesday, Jade bought 5 shoes.": x + 5

"On Wednesday, half of all the shoes she had were destroyed.": ÷ 2

"On Thursday, there were only 17 left.": = 17

 

So, (x + 5) ÷ 2 = 17

 

Solve for x:

 

(x + 5) ÷ 2 = 17

x + 5 = 2(17)

x + 5 = 34

x = 34 - 5

x = 29 shoes

 

 

4)

 

For this problem, you need to know a little more about those numbers. Otherwise, there are an infinite number of possible answers.