Juan, Jose, and Belinda played a round of golf. Juan scores 5 points more than Jose, and Jose scores 3 points less than Belinda. The sum of their scores was 203. How many points did each score?

Answer 1

We need to start by giving each person a letter to represent their score, so let's say Juan's score is x, Jose's score is y,and Belinda's score is z. Their combined score is 203, so x + y + z = 203.

Juan's score was 5 points more than Jose's, so x = y + 5 (Juan's scare = Jose's score + 5)

Jose's score was 3 points less than Belinda's, so y = z - 3.

Belinda's score is z.

We can substitute Y + 5 and z - 3 for x and y in the above equation, x + y + z = 203, so

y + 5 + z - 3 + z = 203, or y + 2z + 2 = 203, and y + 2z = 201.

We know y = z -33, so we can substitute that into our equation, like so:

y + 2z = 201

z - 3 + 2z = 201.

z - 3 + 3 + 2z = 201 + 3

z + 2z = 204

3z = 204.

3z/3 = 204/3

z = 68, so Belinda's score was 68. You can use this to Jose's score and then Juan's score.

Jose's score was y = z - 3 = 68 - 3 = 65.

Juan's score was x = y + 5 = 65 + 5 = 70.

So, Jose scored a 65, Belinda scored a 68 and Juan scored a 70. To check, add the three scores together. They should equal 203.

65 + 68 + 70 = 203

133 + 70 = 203

203 = 203, so our answers are correct. :-)

Answer 2

Jennifer,

Say Juan is x, Jose is y, and Belinda is b.

Since Jose scored 3 points less than Belinda, y = b - 3.

Since Juan scored 5 points more than Jose, x = y + 5. Since

y = b - 3, we can say x = b + 2.

Now we have everything in terms of b, and we can write

Juan’s points + Jose’s points + Belinda’s points =

(b + 2) + (b - 3) + b = 205.

3b - 1 = 203

3b = 204

b = 68.

Given that Belinda scored 68 points, and Jose has 3 less points than her, Jose has has 65. Juan has 5 more points than Jose, so Juan has 70.

Hope this helps! :)