Question

The sum of three numbers is 104. The first number is 6 less than the second. The third number is 3 times the second. What are the numbers

Answer 1

We can write this in math as x+y+z=104, x=y-6, and z=3y

Because we already know what x and z are in terms of y, we can substitute our values for x and z into the first equation. This now looks like (y-6) + y + (3y) = 104. Now we can simplify our equation to find our value for y.

y-6 + y + 3y = 104 simplifies to 5y - 6 = 104, then 5y=110, and finally y=22.

Now that we know our value for y we can find our values for x and z by substituting our value for y into the other two equations.

The second equation x = y-6 can be simplified as x = 22 - 6 and further simplified as x = 16.

The third equation z = 3y can be written as z = 3(22) or z = 66.

Our three numbers are 16, 22, and 66. Hope this helps you!