A baseball team played 12 games. The team won three times as many games as they lost. How many games did the team win?

Question

A baseball team played 12 games. The team won three times as many games as they lost. How many games did the team win?

Answer 1

Let W equal games won and L equal games lost.

W + L = 12                Set up equation

3L + L = 12               Represent 3L as games won

4L = 12                     Add like terms

L = 3                        Divide both sides by 4

W + 3 = 12               Substitute L = 3

W = 9                       Subtract 3 from both sides

Check: 9 wins (W) and 3 loses (L) for a total of 12 games.