Word problem

Question

Ryan Howard of the Philadelphia Phillies led Major League Baseball in runs batted in for in for the 2008 regular season. Josh Hamilton of the Texas Rangers, who came in second to Howard, had 16 fewer runs batted in for the 2008 regular season. Together, these two players brought home 276 runs during the 2008 regular season. How many runs batted in did Howard and Hamilton account for?

 

I came up with x+(x-16)=276

2x+-16x=276

-14x=276

x=-19 

Hamilton and Howard accounted for 19 runs during the 2008 season. 

Is this correct?

Answer 1

No no no no no. Does your answer even make sense in context with the question?

 

Let x = the number of Ryan Howard RBIs

 

x + (x - 16) = 276

 

The x doesn't multiply through. There is an imaginary 1 in front of the parentheses.

 

x + 1(x - 16) = 276

x + 1(x) + 1(-16) = 276

2x - 16 = 276

2x = 292

x = 146

 

146 - 16 = 130

 

Howard had 146 RBIs and Hamilton had 130.