find how many kilometers they traveled by bike.

Question

George and Carmen went on a bike ride. they took a bus to their starting point, and then biked the rest. they traveled 275 kilometers in total, and they biked 55 kilometers more than they were bussed. Find how many kilometers they traveled by bike

Answer 1

As a best practice, if possible, assign a variable to the quantity the problem asks you to find.  For this problem, let X be " how many kilometers they traveled by bike."

 

Then, "biked the rest ... of 275 total"

       and "biked 55 kilometers more than they were bussed"

                means    bus distance  +  bike distance   =   275

               0r            (X - 55)               +         X             = 275

             

                  2X - 55 = 275                 (collect the X terms)

                   2X = 330                       (add 55 to both sides)

                    X = 165 km                  (divide both sides by 2)

Answer 2

x=distance traveled by bus

x+55=distance traveled by bike

x+x+55=275

2x+55=275

2x=275-55

2x=220

x=220/2

x=110 km

x+55=110+55=165 km traveled by bike