Medal Nickel
how do you solve this algebra word problem?
ok, im really having a hard time when it comes to word problems. can someone show me how its done. thank you!
1. A pay phone is holding its maximum number of 500 coins consisting of nickels, dimes, and quarters. the number of quarters is twice the number of dimes. if the value of all the coins is $88.00, hom many nickels were in the pay phone?
2. Florian Rousseau, from Italy, won a gold medal in cycling during the 1996 Summer Olympics. Supose he rides a ci-cycle up a mountain trail at 8 miles per hour and down at same trail at 12 mph. Find the round-trip distance traveled if the total travel time was 5 hours.
Define x as the number of Nickels.
Define y as the number of dimes.
Define z as the number of quarters.
Now state all the things you know about the number of coins, using the variables defined above:
The 1st sentence says there are 500 coins, thus:
x+y+z = 500
Since you have three variables, you’ll need three such mathematical equations.
(# of quarters is twice the number of dimes is: z = 2y, and
All the coins total $88.00 is: 5x + 10y +25z = 8800)
The rest you probably know how to do, right? (I’d start by substituing 2y for z in the two other equations.)
Olympic Medals