Help on 'a boat weighs 1500 lbs more than its motor and...'

monimac123 · Sep 11, 2006

A boat weighs 1500 lbs more than its motor and 1900 lbs more than its trailer. Together the boat and moter weigh 5 times as much as the trailer. How much does the boat weigh?

soroban · Sep 11, 2006

Re: Help on this question

Hello, monimac123!

A boat weighs 1500lbs more than its motor and 1900lbs more than its trailer.
Together the boat and moter weigh 5 times as much as the trailer.
How much does the boat weigh?

Did you set up the equations?

"Boat weighs 1500 more than Motor": \(\displaystyle \,B \:=\:M\,+\,1500\;\;\Rightarrow\;\;M \:=\:B \,-\,1500\;\) [1]

"Boat weighs 1900 more than Trailer": \(\displaystyle \,B\:=\:T\,+\,1900\;\;\Rightarrow\;\;T\:=\:B\,-\,1900\;\) [2]

"Boat and Motor weighs 5 times Trailer": \(\displaystyle \,B\,+\,M\:=\:5T\;\) [3]

Substitute [1] and [2] into [3]:

. . . . . . . .\(\displaystyle B\,+\,M\;\;\;=\;\;\;\;5T\)
. . . . . . . . . . . \(\displaystyle \downarrow\) . . . . . . . . .\(\displaystyle \downarrow\)
. . . . \(\displaystyle B\,+\,\overbrace{(B\,-\,1500)}\:=\:5\overbrace{(B\,-\,1900)}\)

. . . and solve for \(\displaystyle B.\)

Help on 'a boat weighs 1500 lbs more than its motor and...'

monimac123

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soroban

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