Using Equations to Solve Problems [Pack 1]

Using Equation to Solve Problems [Pack 1]

SECTION 1
Example This puzzle can be solved easily using algebra.

The sum of four consecutive integers (whole numbers) is 210. What are they?

The numbers are 51, 52, 53 and 54.

Try using the same method to solve these problems by setting up your equation.
1. The sum of four consecutive integers is 82.

The numbers are _____ _____ _____ _____

2. The sum of three consecutive integers is 105.

The numbers are _____ _____ _____

3. The sum of five consecutive integers is 140.

The numbers are _____ _____ _____ _____ _____

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 Using Equations to Solve Problems [Pack 1]

4. The sum of four consecutive even numbers is 284.

(HINT: think about how much each even number ‘increases’ by)

The even numbers are _____ _____ _____ _____

5. The sum of five consecutive odd numbers is 205.

(HINT: think about how much each odd number ‘increases’ by)

The odd numbers are _____ _____ _____ _____ _____

6. The sum of 3 consecutive multiples of 3 is 162.

The multiples of 3 are _____ _____ _____

7. The brownie monster ate 4 more brownies each night over 4 nights. He
consumed a total of 76 brownies. How many brownies did he eat on the 4th
night?

__________ brownies
8. Each day, Dracula the milk-thirsty vampire, drinks 5 more glasses of milk
than the day before. He did this for 6 consecutive days and drank a
total of 183 glasses of milk. How many glasses of milk did he drink
on the first day?

__________ glasses of milk

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 Using Equations to Solve Problems [Pack 1]

9. Cookie monster ate 234 cookies over 3 nights. Each night he ate 20 more
than the previous night. How many cookies did he eat on the first night?

__________ cookies
10. Roger Federer played 4 matches and served a total of 110 aces. Due to
injuries, each match he served 5 less aces than the match before. How
many aces did he serve in his last match?

__________ aces
11. Mr Chan bought 200 brownies. On a 5-day diet, he decided to eat 7 less
brownies than the day before. By the end of the diet he had 20 brownies
left. How many brownies did he eat on the first day of his diet?

__________ brownies

12. A basketball team played 5 games in one month. Use the clues below to
work out the team’s score for each game.

§ They scored a total of 640 in the month.

§ The second game was 25 points more than the first game.
§ The third game was 10 points less than the second game.
§ The fourth game’s score was triple the first game’s score.
§ The fifth game’s score was double the first game’s score.

1st game: ________ 2nd game: ________ 3rd game: _______ 4th game: _______ 5th game: _______

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 Using Equations to Solve Problems [Pack 1]

SECTION 2

Example:
Ali is 3 years younger than his brother.
The sum of their ages is 25.
How old is Ali?
You can use algebra OR this easier method

1. Ben is 7 years younger than his sister. The sum of their ages is 23. How old
is Ben?

_________ years old

2. Colin is 4 years older than his sister. The sum of their ages is 16. How old is
Colin?

_________ years old

3. There are 37 more girls than boys. There are 153 children in total. How
many girls and boys are there?

_________ girls _______ boys

4. Sue and Kate have a total of £5.20 altogether. Kate has 40p more than Sue.
How much do they each have?

Kate: ___________ Sue: ___________

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 Using Equations to Solve Problems [Pack 1]

5. The difference of two numbers is 14 and the sum of the same two numbers
is 50. What are the two numbers?

_________ and _________

6. The difference of two numbers is 11 and the sum of the same two numbers
is 61. What types of numbers are they both called?

They are both ________________ numbers

7. There are 37 children in a club.
Which one of these statements can definitely not be true? Explain why.
A: There are more boys than girls in the club.
B: There are more girls than boys in the club.

C: There are 3 more boys than girls in the club.

D: There are 6 more girls than boys in the club.
E: There are 9 more boys than girls in the club.
Statement _______ cannot be true because _______________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________

8. The sum of two numbers is 110. One number is 4 times larger than the
other. Find the two numbers.

HINT: You can use ratio

to solve this problem!

_________ and _________

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 Using Equations to Solve Problems [Pack 1]

Example: Bill ate 9 more sweets than Tim. Doug ate 5 fewer sweets than Tim. Tim
ate the rest. The three boys ate a total of 67 sweets. How many did each eat?

We use Tim (t) because

everyone compares
themselves to him!

So Tim ate 21 sweets, Bill ate 30 sweets and Doug ate 16 sweets.

1. 47 sweets were eaten. Bill ate 3 more than Tim. Doug ate 7 fewer than Tim.
Tim ate the rest. Work out how many sweets each boy ate.

Tim: ______________ Bill: ______________ Doug: ______________

2. 50 sweets were eaten. Bill ate 6 fewer than Tim. Doug ate 8 more than Tim.
Tim ate the rest. Work out how many sweets each boy ate.

Tim: ______________ Bill: ______________ Doug: ______________

3. 40 sweets were eaten. Bill ate 8 more than Tim. Doug ate 4 fewer than Tim.
Tim ate the rest. Work out how many sweets each boy ate.

Tim: ______________ Bill: ______________ Doug: ______________

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 Using Equations to Solve Problems [Pack 1]

4. 30 sweets were eaten. Bill ate 8 less than Tim and Doug ate 10 fewer than
Tim. How many sweets did each boy eat?

Tim: ______________ Bill: ______________ Doug: ______________

5. In a triangle, the largest angle is 15° greater than the middle angle. The
middle angle is 30° larger than the smallest angle. Work out all three
angles.

Smallest: ______________Middle: ______________ Largest: ______________

6. Angelo, Bon and Carol shared a prize money of $37. Carol received $7 less
than Bon and Angelo received $12 more than Carol. How much did each
person get?

Angelo: ______________Bon: ______________Carol: ______________

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