Math Help on question

Question

The sum of two numbers is 66. Find the larger number if the larger is 6 less than three times the smaller.

Answer 1

Let's let x represent the smaller number and y represent the larger number. Then we can write the following equations using the information in the problem:

x + y = 66

3x - 6 = y

Now we can use substitution to solve this system of equations.

Substitute the expression 3x - 6 for y in the first equation:

+

x + y = 66

x + 3x - 6 = 66

Now combine like terms and use inverse operations to find the value of x:

x + 3x - 6 = 66

4x - 6 = 66

4x - 6 + 6 = 66 + 6

4x = 72

4x/4 = 72/4

x = 18

So the smaller number is 18

The larger number will be 48 (or 66 - 18)

Note that 3 * 18 - 6 = 54 - 6 = 48