The sum of three numbers is 126 . The third number is 3 times the first. The second number is 6 more than the first. What are the numbers?

Question

The sum of three numbers is 126

. The third number is 3

 times the first. The second number is 6

 more than the first. What are the numbers? 

Answer 1

Lets define a=1st number, b=2nd number, and c=3rd number

We know that a+b+c=126

We also know that the second number is 6 more than the first, so we can represent this as b=a+6

We also know that the third number is 3 times the first which can be represented as c=3a

We can plug these new values into our original equation and get:

a+(a+6)+(3a)=126

2a+6+3a=126 COMBINE LIKE TERMS

5a+6=126

5a=120

a=24

Our first number is 24.

Our second number is 6 more than our first number, so the second number is 24+6=30

Our third number is 3 times the first number, so the third number is 3(24)=72

We can check by plugging these numbers in for a, b, and c in our original equation

a+b+c=126

24+30=72=126

126=126