Answer:
• Gayle: 14
• Crystal: 3
Step-by-step explanation:
Let g represent the number of paperclips Gayle has. Then 42/g is the number Crystal has. The relationship between the two numbers is said to be ...
g - (42/g) = 11
Multiplying by g gives ...
g^2 -42 = 11g
g^2 -11g -42 = 0 . . . . subtract 11 g to put into standard form
To factor this, you are looking for two factors of -42 that sum to -11.
-42 = -42·1 = -21·2 = -14·3 = -7·6
You can see that -14 and 3 sum to -11, so the factoring is ...
(g -14)(g +3) = 0
g = 14 . . . . . . . . . . makes the product zero. (The g=-3 solution is extraneous.)
Gayle has 14 paperclips and Crystal has 3.
