Applications of Linear Equations

This section this textbook explains how to translate the situations described in word problems to equations and provides a variety of examples. Read the chapter and work through the problems. Some examples involved the geometric facts you have learned in Unit 2.

Example 102.

If $28$ less than five times a certain number is $232$ . What is the number?

$5 x-28$	Subtraction is built backwards, multiply the unknown by $5$
$5 x-28=232$	Is translates to equals
$underline +28 \quad +28$	Add $28$ to both sides
$\underline {5x=260}$	The variable is multiplied by $5$
$5 \quad \quad 5$	Divide both sides by $5$
$x=52$	The number is $52$ .

This same idea can be extended to a more involved problem as shown in the next example.