Question

Suppose that, on a 3,000-mile New York to Los Angeles flight, United Continental, American, and Southwest flew a total of 270 empty seats, costing them a total of $114,990. If United Continental had three times as many empty seats as American, how many empty seats did each of these three airlines carry on its flight

Answer 1

Answer:

The number of empty seats each of these three airlines carried on its flight are as follows:

United Continental = 150 empty seats

American = 50 empty seats

Southwest = 70 empty seats

Step-by-step explanation:

Note: This question is not complete. The complete question is therefore provided before answering the question. See the attached pdf for the complete question.

The explanation of the answers is now provided as follows:

Let U, A and W represents number of empty seats of United Continental, American, and Southwest respectively. Therefore, we have:

U + A + W = 270 ………………………. (1)

Since United Continental had three times as many empty seats as American, this implies that:

U = 3A ………………………………… (2)

Substituting U = 3A into equation (1), we have:

3A +A + W = 270

4A + W = 270

W = 270 - 4A ………………………….. (3)

For the cost, we have:

3,000[((14.90 / 100) * 3A) + (14.60A / 100) + (12.40W / 100)] = $114,990

((14.90 / 100) * 3A) + (14.60A / 100) + (12.40W / 100) = $114,990 / 3,000

((14.90 / 100) * 3A) + (14.60A / 100) + (12.40W / 100) = 38.33

0.447A + 0.146A + 0124W = 38.33

0.593A + 0.124W = 38.33 ………………… (4)

Substituting W = 270 - 4A from equation (3) into (4) and solve for A, we have:

0.593A + 0.124(270 - 4A) = 38.33

0.593A + 33.48 - 0.496A = 38.33

0.593A - 0.496A = 38.33 - 33.48

0.097A = 4.84

A = 4.84 / 0.097

A = 49.8969072164948

Rounding to a whole number, we have:

A = 50

Substituting A = 50 into each of equations (2) and (3), we have:

U = 3 * 50 = 150

W = 270 - (4 * 50) = 70

Therefore, the number of empty seats each of these three airlines carried on its flight are as follows:

United Continental = 150 empty seats

American = 50 empty seats

Southwest = 70 empty seats

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