Math Word Problem... Please help?????

Question

As you are leaving the community, you notice another new community just down the street. Because you are in the area, you decide to inquire about it.

a) The sales representative here tells you they also have two floor plans available, but they only have 38 homes available. Write an equation that illustrates the situation. Use x and y to denote floor plan #1 and floor plan #2 respectively.

b) The representative tells you that floor plan #1 sells for $175,000 and floor plan #2 sells for $200,000. She also mentions that all the available houses combined are worth $7,200,000. Write an equation that illustrates this situation. Use the same variables you used in part a.

c) Use elimination to determine how many houses with each floor plan are available. Explain how you arrived at your answer.

Answer 1

a)  x= floor plan #1,  y= floor plan #2;  x+y = 38

     Alternatively, floor plan #1 =x, floor plan #2 = 38-x

b)  x+y =38     so y=38-x

    175x + 200y = 7200

    Alternatively, 175x + 200(38-x) = 7200

c)  By elimination, multiply x+y=38 by -175 such that

           -175x -175y = -6650

and       175x +200y = 7200

so 25y=550

        y= 22

since x + y =38 and y= 22, x must = 16

Alternatively, 175x+200(38-x) = 7200

                    175x -200x + 7600 = 7200

                     -25x =-400

                         x= 16

Hope that helps