Joe is on his way home in his car. He has driven 24 miles so far, which is two-thirds of the way home. What is the total length of his drive?

Answer 1

24=(2/3)x

x = (3/2)24= 36 miles total

Answer 2

Let x = length of Joe's drive (which is the distance to his home).

At the point he has drive 24 miles he is two thirds of the way home. Translate that into an equation that models the situation:

24 = 2/3 (x) [24 is two thirds of x]

To solve for x multiply both sides of the equation by the reciprocal of the numerical coefficient of x. That reciprocal is 3/2. We choose the reciprocal because (2/3)(3/2) equals 1.

24(3/2) = x

x = 36 [2 goes into 24 12 times and 12 times 3 equals 36].

Check:

2/3 of 36 = 24