Thread: Algebra Problem Concerning Pages in a Book

A 120-page book has

p lines to a page. If the number of lines were reduced by three on
each page the number of pages would need to be increased by 20 to give the same amount

of writing space. How many lines were there on the page originally?

Hi danne,
How many lines in the book? 120p.Write a second function of p based on thr revisions.What must be true of the two functions?


bjh

Initially the book has a total of 120p lines.
When the number of lines in each page is reduced by 3, the total number of lines become 120(p-3).
By question, 120p=120(p-3)+20(p-3)
Solve this equation to find p

or equivalently, total number of lines =120p initally, but afterwards, the total number of lines is a function of p-3 and 20 pages added. So need to solve 140(p-3)=120p