APPLICATIONS OF EQUATIONS AND INEQUALITIES

In many applications of algebra, problems are stated in words.

They are called word problems, and they give relationships
between known and unknown numbers to be determined.

There is no specific method to use in solving word problems.

However, here are some steps to follow:

1. Read the problem carefully.

2. Determine the quantities that are known and those that are
unknown. Use a variable to represent one of the unknown
quantities in the equation that you will obtain. When
employing only one equation, any other unknown quantities
should be expressed in terms of this one variable. Because the
variable is a number, its definition should indicated this fact.
3. Write down any numerical facts about the variable.

4. From step 3, determine two algebraic expressions for the same

number and form an equation from them.
5. Solve the equation obtained in step 4. From the solution set,
write a conclusion that answers the questions of the problem.
6.Check results by determining whether the conditions of the
word problems are satisfied.

Examples:
1.The sum of two numbers is 9 and their difference is 6. What
are the numbers?
2.Find three consecutive even integers whose sum is 138.
3.If the width of a rectangle is 2cm more than one-half its length
and its perimeter is 40 cm, what are the dimensions?

4. The longest side of a triangle is twice as long as the shortest

side and 2cm longer than the third side. If the perimeter of the
triangle is 33cm, what is the length of each side?
5.Admission tickets to a motion picture theatre were priced at $4
for adults and $3 for students. If 810 tickets were sold and the
total receipts were $2853, how many of each type of ticket
were sold?

Investment Problem
a problem which involves income from an investment
Formula used: =
where I dollars is the annual interest earned when P dollars is
invested at a rate R per year.

Examples:
1.A man invested part of $15,000 at 12 percent and the
remainder at 8 percent. If his annual income from the two
investments is $1456, how much does he have invested at each
rate?
2.An investor wishes to realize a return of 12 percent on a total
of two investments. If he has $10,000 invested at 10 percent,
how much additional money should be invested at 16 percent?

Exercises:
1.A woman invested $25,000 in two business ventures. Last year
she made a profit of 15 percent from the first venture but lost 5
percent from the second venture. If last years income from the
two investments was equivalent to a return of 8 percent on the
entire amount invested, how much had she invested in each
venture?

2. A retail merchant invested $6500 in three kinds of cameras.

The profit on the sales of camera A was 25 percent; on the
sales of camera B the profit was 12 percent; and there was a
loss of 1 percent on the sales of camera C. If the merchant
invested an equal amount in cameras A and B, and the overall
profit on the total investment was 14 percent, how much was
invested in each kind of camera?

Word Problems involving Quadratic Equations

1.A park contains a flower garden, 50m long and 30m wide, and
a path of uniform width around it. If the area of the path is
600m2, what is its width?
2.The sum of the reciprocals of two consecutive even integers is
9/40. What are the integers?

Word Problems involving Inequalities

1. A company that builds and sells desks has a weekly overhead,
including salaries and plant cost, of $3400. The cost of
materials for each desk is $40 and the desk is sold for $200.
How many desks must be built and sold each week so that the
company is guaranteed a profit?

Note: profit = revenue-cost

2.A decorator designs and sells wall fixtures and can sell at a
price of $75 each all the fixtures she produces. If fixtures are
manufactured each day, then the number of dollars in the daily
total cost of production is 2 + 25 + 96. How many fixtures
should be produced each day so that the decorator is
guaranteed a profit?

Uniform Motion Problem

If an object travels at a uniform rate of miles per hour for a
time of hours, then if miles is the distance travelled,
=
Note: In applying the formula, the units of measurement of the
rate, time and distance must be consistent.

Examples:
1.One runner took 3min and 45 seconds to complete a race and
another runner required 4 min to run the same race. The rate of
the faster runner is 0.4 m/seconds more than the rate of the
slower runner. Find their rates.
2. A father and daughter leave home at the same time in separate
automobiles. The father drives to his office, a distance of 24km
and the daughter drives to school, a distance of 28km. They
arrive at their destinations at the same time. What are their
average rates, if the fathers average rate is 12km/hr less than
his daughters?

Work Problem
- A problem in which a specific job is done in a certain length of
time when uniform rate of work is assumed.
For instance, if it takes a man10hr to paint a room, then his
rate of work is 1/10 of the room per hour.
- To solve a work problem, we multiply the rate of work by the
time to obtain the fractional part of the work completed.
In particular, if the painter works for 7hr, then the fractional
part of the work completed is 7/10.

Examples:
1.A painter can paint a room in 12hr and another can paint the
same room in 10 hr. How long will it take to paint the room if
they work together?
2. A pipe can fill a swimming pool in 10hr. If a second pipe is
open, the two pipes together can fill the pool in 4hr. How long
would it take the second pipe alone to fill the pool?
3.Each of two brothers can wash a car in 1hr; however, their
sister can wash the car in 45min. If all three work together,
how long will it take to wash the car?

4.It takes a boy 15min longer to mow the lawn than it takes his
sister, and if they both worked together it takes them 56min.
How long does it take the boy to mow the lawn by himself?