4.2.4 Practice: Solving Systems of Linear Equations Math 8 (2020)
Your Assignment
Jesse and Amir were assigned the same book to read. Jesse started reading on Saturday, and he is reading 30 pages a day. Amir didn't start until Sunday, but he is reading 35 pages a day.
How many days will it take Amir to catch up to Jesse, and how many pages will they each have read?
Answer the questions to solve this problem using a system of equations.
1. Write an equation to represent the number of pages Amir has read. Use x to represent the number of days Amir has been reading and y to represent the number of pages he has read.
answer: 6 days
210 pages Step-by-step explanation: As stipulated by the question, let the number of days Amir has been reading be x and the number of pages he had read to be y. Now since he reads 35 pages per day. Then mathematically; y = 35x For Jesse, He started reading a day before, which means that the number of days he had read would be x + 1. Since he reads 30 per day, the total number of pages he would have read is 30(x+1) To find the number of days which is x, we have to assume that at a point in time, the number of books they would have read would be the same meaning that Also; y = 30(x + 1) Equating the two situations 35x = 30(x + 1) 35x = 30x + 30 35x -30x = 30 5x = 30 x = 30/5 x = 6 days This means that it will take Amir 6 days to catch Jese. The number of books they would have read by then is y = 35x = 30(x + 1) = 35 * 6 or 30(6+1) = 210