Question

Tania bought 4 more pounds of pears than Wilma. Together, Tania and Wilma bought 18 pounds of pears. How many pounds of pears did Wilma buy?

Answer 1

Wilma bought 7 pounds of pears.

Explanation:

Let pounds bought by Wilma be `x`.
Then those bought by Tania will be `x+4`

So we have:

`x+x+4=18`
`2x+4=18`
`2x=14`
`x=7`

So Wilma bought 7 pounds of pears.

Answer 2

Tanya has `11` pounds of pears
Wilma has `7` pounds of pears

Explanation:

Let Tania's pounds of pears be `t`

Let Wilma's pounds of pears `w`

The first sentence, "Tania bought 4 more pounds of pears than Wilma" can be written as:

`t=w+4`

The second sentence, "Tania bought 4 more pounds of pears than Wilma" can be written as:

`t+w=18`

So, the two equations we have are:

`t=w+4`
`t+w=18`

Multiply the second equation by `-1`

`t=w+4`

`-t-w=-18`

Now, we add both the simultaneous equations:

`(t)+(-t)+(-w)=(4)+(-18)+(w)`

`t-t-w=4-18+w`

`t` and `-t` cancel out:

`-w=-14+w`

`-2w=-14`

`2w=14`

`w=7`

Now that we have one variable, we can substitute it inside any one of the equations. Let us take the first equation, as `t` is alone, and it would be easier to manipulate it:

`t=w+4`

Since `w=7`:

`t=7+4`

`t=11`

Thus, Tanya has `11` pounds of pears.
Thus, Wilma has `7` pounds of pears