## Solving Word Problems in Numbers using Algebra Part 3

This is the last part of the Solving Number Problems Series. In this post, we are going to solve number problems in disguise, or numbers problems with different contexts. The previous two parts in this series you may want to read are Solving Word Problems in Numbers using Algebra are Part 1 and Part 2.

Example 7

Jack is twice as old as Rose. Two years from now, the sum of their ages is 40. How old are they now?

Solution

This problem is an age problem but it is very similar to number problems.  As stated, there are two points in time: now and 2 years from now.

Now, Jack is twice as old as Rose. That means that if Rose is 15, then Jack is 30. That means that if the age of Jack is $2x$, then Rose’s age is $x$. Therefore, we have the following representation.  » Read more

## Solving Math Word Problems in Numbers Using Algebra Part 2

This is the fourth part of the Word Problem Solving on Number Problems and this is the continuation of the Solving Word Problems in Numbers in Algebra.  In this post, we discuss more examples on how to solve number problems. We start with the fourth example.

Example 4

The sum of three consecutive numbers is 78. What are the three numbers?

Solution

In the previous post in this series, we have already discussed how to solve problems about two consecutive odd integers. In this example, there are three consecutive integers, not odd and not even. As we can see, 11, 12, and 13 are consecutive integers and we only add 1 each time to get the next number. This means that if $x$ is the smallest number, then $x + 1$ and $x + 2$ are the next two integers. » Read more

## Math Word Problems: Solving Number Problems Part 1

This is the first post in the Word Problem Solving Series.  This series is intended for middle school students.  In this post, we are going to discuss how to solve number word problems in Algebra.

The that you should observer in this series translating words into algebraic expressions and equations. Prior to the discussion of word problems, you have already learned how to solve equations, so I will not show the solution in details. » Read more