# Math Help - Diophantine eqution problem

1. ## Diophantine eqution problem

Hi I need help to find the answer for the following question this is need to be solving by using the Diophantine equation

Find the number of men, woman and children in a company of 20 persons if together they pay 20 coins, each man paying 3, each woman 2, and each child 1/2.

2. Originally Posted by dhammikai
Hi I need help to find the answer for the following question this is need to be solving by using the Diophantine equation

Find the number of men, woman and children in a company of 20 persons if together they pay 20 coins, each man paying 3, each woman 2, and each child 1/2.
m - men
w- women
c - children

so we have,
m+w+c=20
3m+2w+(1/2)c=2

Can you proceed now?

3. Hello, dhammikai!

Find the number of men, woman and children in a company of 20 persons
if together they pay 20 coins, each man paying 3, each woman 2, and each child $\tfrac{1}{2}$.
Let: $M$ = number of men, $W$ = number of women, $C$ = number of children.

There are 20 people: . $M + W + C \:=\:20$ .[1]

They paid a total of 20 coins: . $3M + 2W + \tfrac{1}{2}C \:=\:20 \quad\Rightarrow\quad 6M + 4W + C \:=\:40$ .[2]

Subtract [1] from [2]: . $5M + 3W \:=\:20 \quad\Rightarrow\quad M \:=\:\frac{20-3W}{5} \quad\Rightarrow\quad M \:=\:4 - \frac{3W}{5}$

Since $M$ is an integer, $W$ must be a multiple of 5.

There are two solutions: . $\begin{Bmatrix}W = 0,\:M = 4,\;C = 16 \\ \\ W = 5,\:M = 1,\:C = 14 \end{Bmatrix}$

4. Thank you very much for your help thanks again