shift 1produced 4 times as much as shift 2.total production for july was 5,500 jet engines.what was the output for each shift?

Question

at general electric, shift 1 produced 4 times as much as shift 2. general electrics total production for july was 5,500 jet engines. what was the output for each shift?

Answer 1

Maria, 

 

How many jet engines did shift 1 produce? ... We don't know. So assign a variable. Let's use "a". 

How many jet engines did shift 2 produce? ... We don't know. So assign a variable. Let's use "b". 

 

What we do know is that both shifts were making the same thing. So, shift 1 + shift 2 = the total amount of engines. 

 

That's   a + b = 5500

 

OK, we've got an equation, but no way to solve it yet. There's one more clue, however. 

Shift 1 produced 4 times as much as shift 2. 

 

Shift 1 ... a

Produced ... = 

4 times as much  ... 4•

shift 2 ... b 

 

so a = 4•b

 

Now substitute 4b where you see a in the original equation. 

 

 a  +  b = 5500

4b +  b = 5500 ... combine like terms

 

    5b    = 5500 ... divide both sides by 5

 

     b     = 1100 ... that's how many engines shift 2 produced. 

 

Can you find how many engines shift 1 produced? 

 

 

Answer 2

x=shift 2

4x= shift 1

x+4x=5,500

5x=5,500

x=5,500/5

x= ?

4x= ?

divide 5,500 by 5 to get shift 2, then multiply by 4 to get shift 1