The second of two numbers is 5 more than twice the first. The sum of the numbers is 44. How do you find the numbers?

1 Answer
Sep 25, 2015

#x = 13#
#y = 31#

Explanation:

You have two unknown numbers, we shall name them #x# and #y#.

Then we look at the information about these unknowns that is given, and write them out to get a picture of the situation.

The second number, which we have called #y#, is 5 more than twice the first. To represent this, we write
#y = 2x + 5#
where #2x# comes from 'twice the first', and
#+5# comes from '5 more'.

The next piece of information states that the sum of #x# and #y# is 44. We represent this as #x+y = 44#.

Now we have two equations to work off.

To find #x#, substitute #y = 2x + 5# into #x+y = 44#.
We then get
#x + (2x + 5) = 44#
#3x + 5= 44#
#3x = 44 - 5#
#3x = 39#
#x = 39/3#
#x = 13#

Now we know the value of #x#, we can use it to find #y#.
We take the 2nd equation, and plug in #x=13#.
#x+y = 44#
#13+y = 44#
#y = 44-13#
#y = 31#