Basic Algebra Question

Question

There are 32 girls in the class. This is 5 more than three – halves the number of boys. How many boys are in the class?

Answer 1

Hi Karl,

Let's use the variable, x , to represent the number of boys.

The problem states that if we multiply the number of boys, x, by 3/2 and then add 5 , it will be equal to the number of girls or 32. In equation form, we can write (and solve) the following to show this situation:

3 x + 5 = 32

2

3 x + 5 - 5 = 32 - 5

2

2 •3 x = 27• 2

3 2 3

x = 18 boys