Algebra word problems

Example of algebra word problems are numerous. The goal of this unit is to give you the skills
that you need to solve a variety of these algebra word problems.
Example #1:

A football team lost 5 yards and then gained 9. What is the team's progress?

Solution

For lost, use negative. For gain, use positive.

Progress = -5 + 9 = 4 yards

Example #2:

Use distributive property to solve the problem below:

Maria bought 10 notebooks and 5 pens costing 2 dollars each.How much did Maria pay?

Solution

2 × (10 + 5) = 2 × 10 + 2 × 5 = 20 + 10 = 30 dollars

Example #3:

A customer pays 50 dollars for a coffee maker after a discount of 20 dollars

What is the original price of the coffee maker?

Solution

Let x be the original price.

x - 20 = 50

x - 20 + 20 = 50 + 20

x + 0 = 70

x = 70

Example #4:

Half a number plus 5 is 11.What is the number?

Solution
Let x be the number. Always replace "is" with an equal sign

(1/2)x + 5 = 11

(1/2)x + 5 - 5 = 11 - 5

(1/2)x = 6

2 × (1/2)x = 6 × 2

x = 12

Example #5:

The sum of two consecutive even integers is 26. What are the two numbers?

Solution

Let 2n be the first even integer and let 2n + 2 be the second integer

2n + 2n + 2 = 26

4n + 2 = 26

4n + 2 - 2 = 26 - 2

4n = 24

n=6

So the first even integer is 2n = 2 × 6 = 12 and the second is 12 + 2 = 14

Below are more complicated algebra word problems

Example #6:

The ratio of two numbers is 5 to 1. The sum is 18. What are the two numbers?

Solution

Let x be the first number. Let y be the second number

x/y=5/1
x + y = 18

Using x / y = 5 / 1, we get x = 5y after doing cross multiplication

Replacing x = 5y into x + y = 18, we get 5y + y = 18

6y = 18

y=3

x = 5y = 5 × 3 = 15

As you can see, 15/3 = 5, so ratio is correct and 3 + 15 = 18, so the sum is correct.

Example #7: Algebra word problems can be as complicated as example #7. Study it carefully!

Peter has six times as many dimes as quarters in her piggy bank. She has 21 coins in her piggy
bank totaling $2.55

How many of each type of coin does she have?

Solution

Let x be the number of quarters. Let 6x be the number of dimes

Since one quarter equals 25 cents, x quarters equals x × 25 cents or 25x cents

Since one dime equals 10 cents, 6x dimes equals 6x × 10 cents or 60x cents

Since one 1 dollar equals 100 cents, 2.55 dollars equals 2.55 × 100 = 255 cents

Putting it all together, 25x cents + 60x cents = 255 cents

85x cents = 255 cents

85x cents / 85 cents = 255 cents / 85 cents

x=3

6x = 6 × 3 = 18

Therefore Peter has 3 quarters and 18 dimes

Example #8:
The area of a rectangle is x2 + 4x -12. What are the dimensions of the rectangle (length and
width)?

Solution

The main idea is to factor x2 + 4x -12

Since -12 = -2 × 6 and -2 + 6 = 4

x2 + 4x -12 = ( x + -2) × ( x + 6)

Since the length is usually longer, length = x + 6 and width = x + -2

Example #9: A must know how when solving algebra word problems

The area of a rectangle is 24 cm2. The width is two less than the length. What is the length and
width of the rectangle?

Solution

Let x be the length and let x - 2 be the width

Area = length × width = x × ( x - 2) = 24

x × ( x - 2) = 24

x2 + -2x = 24

x2 + -2x - 24 = 0

Since -24 = 4 × -6 and 4 + -6 = -2, we get:

(x + 4) × ( x + -6) = 0

This leads to two equations to solve:

x + 4 = 0 and x + -6 = 0

x + 4 = 0 gives x = -4. Reject this value since a dimension cannot be negative

x + -6 = 0 gives x = 6

Therefore, length = 6 and width = x - 2 = 6 - 2 = 4

Example #10:
The sum of two numbers is 16. The difference is 4. What are the two numbers?

Let x be the first number. Let y be the second number

x + y = 16

x-y=4

Solution

Let x be the first number. Let y be the second number

x + y = 16

x-y=4

Solve the system of equations by elimination

Adding the left sides and the right sides gives:

x + x + y + -y = 16 + 4

2x = 20

x = 10

Since x + y = 16, 10 + y = 16

10 + y = 16

10 - 10 + y = 16 - 10

y=6

The numbers are 10 and 6

The algebra word problems I solved above are typical questions. You will encounter them a lot
in algebra. Hope you had fun solving these algebra word problems.

Other algebra word problems/related topics:

 Homepage

Algebra lessons

Algebra word problems

Math problem solving strategies

Mixture word problems

Distance rate time problems

Perimeter word problems

Calculate break even point

Revenue function

Have Algebra Word Problems

Share it here with a solution!

Enter Your Title

Tell Us Your Story! [ ? ]

Upload 1-4 Pictures or Graphics (optional)[ ? ]

Add a Picture/Graphic Caption (optional)

Click here to upload more images (optional)

Author Information (optional)

To receive credit as the author, enter your information below.

Your Name (first or full name)

Your Location (e.g., City, State, Country)

Submit Your Contribution

Check box to agree to these submission guidelines.

(You can preview and edit on the next page)

What Other Visitors Have Said
Click below to see contributions from other visitors to this page...

Bessy and Bob algebra word problem

Bessy has 6 times as much money as Bob, but when each earn $6. Bessy will have 3 times as
much money as Bob. How much does each have before and after …

Applications: Number problems and consecutive integers

Sum of 3 consecutive odd integers is -3, what are the integers? Solution A number is odd if it has
the following format: 2n + 1 Let …

find length and width of a triangle

The Phillips family wants to fence their backyard. They know the yard has a perimeter of 24
meters and an area of 32 square meters. What is the yard's …

Find water left in a tank using arithmetic sequences

A water tank is emptied at a constant rate. Initially, 36,000 gallons of water were in the tank. A
the end of five hours, 16,000 gallons remained. How …

Population growth Not rated yet

The population of a town with an initial population of 60,000 grows at a rate of 2.5% per year.
What is population in 5 years? In 10 years? How many years …

Price of 3 pens without discount Not rated yet

A stationery store sells a dozen ballpoints pens for $3.84, which represents a 20% discount from
the price charged when a dozen pens are bought individually. …

Mixture word problem with sand and soil Not rated yet
2 m 3 of soil containing 35% sand was mixed into 6 m 3 of soil containing 15% sand. What is
the sand content of the mixture? Let x% be the amount …

Dr. Abdullah Kamran Soomro Not rated yet

PROBLEM Jane spent $42 for shoes. This was $14 less than twice what she spent for a blouse.
How much was the blouse? SOLUTION Let "x" be how much …
 Fencing a rectangular garden word problem Not rated yet
A farmer has 260 meters of fencing and wants to enclose a rectangular area of 4200 square
meters. what dimensions should he use? Area = length × width …

Math problem about age Not rated yet

Arvind is eight year older than his sister. in three year, he will be twice as old as his sister. how
old was they are now? Solution Let x be a …

Age Not rated yet

The sum of ages of 5 children born at the intervals of 3 years each is 50 years. What is the age of
the youngest child? Let x be the age of the …

Phone card word problem Not rated yet

Elsa purchased a phone card for $25. Long distance cost .11 a minute using this card. Elsa used
her card only once to make a long distance call. If the …

solve word problem Not rated yet

If a number is added to the numerator of 11/64 and twice the number is added to the denominator
of 11/64, the resulting fraction is equivalent to 1/5. …

Click here to write your own.

Recent Articles

1. Mixture word problem with sand and soil

Aug 27, 17 09:36 AM

2 m3 of soil containing 35% sand was mixed into 6 m3 of soil containing 15% sand. What is
the sand content of the mixture? Let x% be the amount of sand

Read More

New math lessons

Email
First Name (optional)
Subscribe

Your email is safe with us. We will only use it to inform you about new math lessons.
 Follow me on Pinterest

Googl
Share this page: Facebook Twitter
e
What’s this?
Pinterest Tumblr Reddit

Enjoy this page? Please pay it forward.

Here's how...

Introduction

Pre-algebra

Algebra

Geometry

Math by grades

Math tests

Math resources
Copyright © 2008-2016. Basic-mathematics.com. All right reserved