Thread: Word Problems

Bah its always these I get stuck on.

1. A man walks 18km he goes .5km/h faster than planed and reaches destination 30mins early. What was his planned speed.


2. Chess tournament as 45 games everyone plays together once. How many players attend.

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For number one I used these equations but couldnt come out with anything
18=xt
18=(x+0.5)(t-0.5)


And for number two I got 10 people which is right answer but I did with arithmetic and my teacher wants algebra.

Originally Posted by AHDDM

2. Chess tournament as 45 games everyone plays together once. How many players attend.

And for number two I got 10 people which is right answer but I did with arithmetic and my teacher wants algebra.

Use combinations.


Solve for n.

Hello, AHDDM!

You had a good start on #1 . . .

1. A man walks 18 km.
If he goes 0.5 km/h faster than planned, he reaches his destination 30 mins early.
What was his planned speed.

This is the way I baby-talk my way through these problems . . .

We know: .


Let = his planned (original) speed ... in km/hr.

Walking km at km/hr, it takes him: . hours.

If he walks at km/hr, it takes him: . hours.

. . And this faster time is 30 minutes less than his planned speed: .

There is our equation! . . . . .


Multiply through by

. .

Multiply by 4: .

. . which factors: .

. . and has the positive root: .


Therefore, his planned speed was