SOLUTION: Two men went fishing. They caught a total of 36 fish. X caught 8 times more than Y, how many fish did Y catch?

Question 112242: Two men went fishing. They caught a total of 36 fish. X caught 8 times more than Y, how many fish did Y catch?
Found 2 solutions by bucky, jim_thompson5910:
Answer by bucky(2189) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Y caught y fish
.
X caught 8 times more, so X caught 8y fish
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The total of these two catches is y + 8y which adds to 9y.
.
But you know that the total caught was 36 fish. So you know that 9y equals 36.
.
In equation form this is:
.
9y = 36
.
If you divide both sides of this equation by 9 you get:
.
y = 36/9 = 4
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So Y caught 4 fish. And since X caught 8 times that amount, X caught 4 times 8 or 32 fish.
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Hope this explanation helps you to see your way through the problem.
.
Answer by jim_thompson5910(35256) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!

If they caught a total of 36 fish, then their sum is equal to 36. In other words,

Now let (since "X caught 8 times more than Y")

So the sum becomes

Combine like terms on the left side

Divide both sides by 9 to isolate y

Divide

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Answer:
So our answer is

So person Y caught 4 fish. Now plug this into to find out how many fish X caught

So person X caught 32 fish

Check:

Start with the given equation

Plug in the values that we previously solved

Add. So this equation works.
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