Variables question

michael.vnshtn

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Dear freeMATHhelp users,

I need help with an Algebra question which I am not so sure how to initiate,

The image above describes the introduction to the question, later onwards there are 4 choices displayed, one of those equals to the price of the houses Linda purchased at the start.

I want to know how do I define a house in 'Old Town' and a house in 'New Town'.

Do I describe 'Old Town' as X and 'New Town' as X^2 or as Y?

I am not so sharp in mathematics, especially when it comes to word problems, so I would be very grateful to anyone who could elaborate on how to solve questions of this sort.

Thank you in advance,

Michael
 
View attachment 29096
Dear freeMATHhelp users,

I need help with an Algebra question which I am not so sure how to initiate,

The image above describes the introduction to the question, later onwards there are 4 choices displayed, one of those equals to the price of the houses Linda purchased at the start.

I want to know how do I define a house in 'Old Town' and a house in 'New Town'.

Do I describe 'Old Town' as X and 'New Town' as X^2 or as Y?

I am not so sharp in mathematics, especially when it comes to word problems, so I would be very grateful to anyone who could elaborate on how to solve questions of this sort.

Thank you in advance,

Michael
Where does x^2 come from?
You have one and only one relationship mentioned: something costs five times as much as something else. How do you express this relationship?
 
Let x = cost of a house in old town.
Let ?? = cost of a house in new town.
What is ??
Lev888 gave you a hint.
 
View attachment 29096
Dear freeMATHhelp users,

I need help with an Algebra question which I am not so sure how to initiate,

The image above describes the introduction to the question, later onwards there are 4 choices displayed, one of those equals to the price of the houses Linda purchased at the start.

I want to know how do I define a house in 'Old Town' and a house in 'New Town'.

Do I describe 'Old Town' as X and 'New Town' as X^2 or as Y?

I am not so sharp in mathematics, especially when it comes to word problems, so I would be very grateful to anyone who could elaborate on how to solve questions of this sort.

Thank you in advance,

Michael

Did you post the complete question?

Where are the "following" that we are supposed to compare?
Do I describe 'Old Town' as X and 'New Town' as X^2 or as Y?
No!

If I were to do this problem, I would start with:

Let

the price of the old town house = x

the price of the new town house =y = 5 * x

continue.....
 
Usually, a problem that says "which of the following" includes a following!

I would discourage anyone from saying "x is Old Town" since, if you are going to write equations with "x", x must be a number, not a town! I agree with Jomo that you should say "let x be the cost of a house in Old Town" or with Subhotosh Kahn to "let x be the price of a house in Old Town".
 
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Here is the full question, I tried defining the price of a house in Old Town as X and the price of a house in New Town as Y, and wrote the sum of houses Linda bought as 5y + 2x and did the same for the following, utilizing Subhotosh Khan's method.

If the cost of a house in New Town is Y = X*5 then the total sum of money Linda paid for her houses is 27 and answer D equals to that much.

Is it safe to say I figured it out?

And thank you everyone for clarifying me this problem, much appreciated!
 
Here is how I would do it (as a check on your work). Let the cost of a house in Oldtown be "x". We are told that a house in Newtown cost 5 times as much as a house in Oldtown so a house in Newtown costs "5x".

Linda bought five houses in Newtown so paid 5(5x)= 25x for them. She bought two houses in Oldtown so paid 2x for them. She paid a total of 25x+2x= 27x. You did almost the same thing but for some reason dropped the "x" from your answer. (Actually, since we are only comparing prices, not calculating specific prices, you could have taken the cost of a house in Oldtown to be "1" rather than "X" and 27 would be correct. But you DID initially call the cost "X" so "27" rather than "27X" is wrong.)

What other combination of houses would also be 27x?

A. One house in Newtown plus 27 houses in Oldtown.
That would be 5x+ 27x= 32x. No, that is not 27x.

B. Seven houses in Newtown.
That would be 7(5x)= 35x. No, that is not 27x.

C. Three houses in Newtown plus fourteen houses in Oldtown.
That would be 3(5x)+ 14x= 15x+ 14x= 29x. No, that is not 27x.

D. Two houses in Newtown plus seventeen houses in Oldtown.
That would be 2(5x)+ 17x= 10x+ 17x= 27x. Yes, that is 27x!

Yes, D is correct. Well done!
 
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