# Word Problem HELP!

Printable View

• Sep 18th 2012, 04:46 PM
marukai47
Word Problem HELP!
Country A produces about three times the amount of diamonds in carats produced in country B. If the total produced in both countries is 4,000,000 carats, find the amount produced in each country
• Sep 18th 2012, 05:52 PM
MarkFL
Re: Word Problem HELP!
You could choose suitable variables to represent the output of each country, say A for country A and B for country B. You are given two ways to relate these variables...can you identify the relations and state them mathematically?
• Sep 18th 2012, 06:03 PM
DIOGYK
Re: Word Problem HELP!
Hello marukai47.
Let A be the number of carats produced by A country and B be number of carats produced by B country, since A country produces three times of diamonds than B country, you can let $A=3B$, and you also know that the sum of number of carats produced by both countries is 4,000,000, so you've got second equation, $A+B=4,000,000$. You can solve this system of equations by substituting 3B instead of A in the second equation and you will get $3B+B=4,000,000$ -> $4B=4,000,000$ -> $B=\frac{4,000,000}{4}$ -> $B=1,000,000$. Since number of carats produced by B country is 1,000,000 and you know that A country produces 3B carats, you multiply 1,000,000 by 3 and you get that $A=3,000,000$. I hope this helped.
• Sep 18th 2012, 07:38 PM
marukai47
Re: Word Problem HELP!
Wrong answer....
• Sep 18th 2012, 07:45 PM
MarkFL
Re: Word Problem HELP!
Can you show how this is wrong?
• Sep 18th 2012, 07:49 PM
marukai47
Re: Word Problem HELP!
When I type the answer into MathXL it says wrong. I did it twice and now have one more try at getting it right
• Sep 18th 2012, 07:55 PM
marukai47
Re: Word Problem HELP!
I finally got it right. I was accidentally using a decimal instead of a comma
• Sep 18th 2012, 07:58 PM
MarkFL
Re: Word Problem HELP!
Suppose country A produces 5 times what country B produces and together they produce 3 million carets. What would the output of each country be?
• Sep 19th 2012, 08:05 PM
MarkFL
Re: Word Problem HELP!
Correct. And I appreciate the fact that you gave the OP more than 24 hours to respond! :)
• Sep 20th 2012, 07:34 PM
MarkFL
Re: Word Problem HELP!
Do you mean how would one algebraically solve this problem?