Question

The owner of a bicycle store had a sale on bicycles (two-wheelers) and tricycles (three-wheelers). Each cycle had two pedals. When he counted the total number of pedals of the cycles, he got 50. When he counted the total number of wheels of the cycles, he got 64. Explain how you figured out how many tricycles were offered in the sale.

Answer 1

Let x represent number of bicycles and y represent number of tricycles.

We know that a bicycle has 2 pedals and a tricycle has 32 pedals as well.

We have been given that when the owner counted the total number of pedals of the cycles, he got 50. We can represent this information in an equation as:

$2x+2y=50...(1)$

$2x=50-2y...(1)$

We know that a bicycle has 2 wheels and a tricycle has 3 wheels.

We have been given that when the owner counted the total number of wheels of the cycles, he got 64. We can represent this information in an equation as:

$2x+3y=64...(2)$

Upon substituting equation (1) in equation (2), we will get:

$50-2y+3y=64$

$50+y=64$

$50-50+y=64-50$

$y=14$

Therefore, 14 tricycles were offered in the sale.