Math Word problem

Question

A family took a road trip that required them to drive 560 miles. Mom, Dad, and their oldest son, Alex, took turns driving. Dad drove twice as far as mom and 60 miles more than Alex. How far did Dad drive?

Answer 1

Hi, please take a look below.

#1:

Let x = mom's distance driven.

From you word problem, it says that dad drove twice as far as mom. This is represented by the term "2x" since mom's distance is "x". Alex drove 60 miles less than dad. If dad's distance is 2x, then 60 less than that is 2x-60.

Thus, here are your expressions for each driver:

MOM: x

DAD: 2x

ALEX: 2x - 60

These distances add up to a total distance driven of 560 miles.

We can add them all together and set them equal to 560, then solve for x.

x + 2x + (2x - 60) = 560

Combine Like Terms:

5x - 60 = 560

Add 60 to both sides:

5x = 620

Divide by 5 on each side:

x = 124.

This is the distance that mom drove. Dad's distance is "2x" so that is 2 times 124 which equals 248 miles.

Dad drove 248 miles.

I encourage you to plug this value of x into the original equation and check that the equation works.