Question

A particular Algebra text has a total of 1382 pages which is broken into two parts. The second part of the book has 64 more pages than the first part. how many pages are in each part of the book? please show work.

Answer 1

You can say that the first part of the book has (x) number of pages.  That would mean that the second part has (x+64) pages.  To find the actual number of pages, set up an equation and solve for (x).


Equation                   Next step
x + (x+64) = 1382      simplify
2x + 64 =1382           subtract 64 from each side of the = sign
2x = 1318                  divide both sides by 2
x = 659 pages in the first part
x + 64 = pages in the second part
659 + 64 = 723 pages in the second part

Answer 2

Take 1,382 subtract 64 to get 1,318. Next, divide 1,318 by 2 and you should get 659. Go back to your original number, 1,382 and subtract 659 to get 723. 
723 - 659= 64 pages difference, 659 + 723 = 1,382 total pages
The first part of the book has 659 pages while the second part has 723 pages.