Word problem

Question

Tower A is 894 ft more then Tower B. Combined they are 1320 Ft. 

Answer 1

Let's create a couple of mathematical expressions to represent this word problem. Once we do, the rest will be easy. Let a represent the height of Tower A and b represent the height of Tower B. We are told that tower A is 894 feet taller than Tower B so

[1] a = b + 894

We also know the sum of their heights, represented by the equation

[2] a + b = 1320

This is a system of linear equations. We have two equations and two unknowns. There are many different methods to solve this problem (substitution method, elimination method, matrices). I'll show you how how we could solve this problem using substitution. Since a = b + 894 (Eq #1), I can plug b + 894 into Eq #2 and solve for b.

(b + 894) + b = 1320
2b + 894 = 1320
b = 213 ft

Now plug 213 into either equation for b and solve for a.

a = 213 + 894
a = 1107 ft

Tower A is 1107 ft tall and Tower B is 213 ft tall.