SOLUTION: A cruise ship had 3 times as many adult passengers as child passengers when it left its first port. At a new port, 116 adults and 50 children boarded the ship. There are now 1,216

Click here to see ALL problems on Evaluation Word Problems

Question 1205729: A cruise ship had 3 times as many adult passengers as child passengers when it left its first port. At a new port, 116 adults and 50 children boarded the ship. There are now 1,216 more adults than children on the ship. How many children were on the ship at first?
Found 3 solutions by MathLover1, greenestamps, josgarithmetic:
Answer by MathLover1(20849)   (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!

let adult passengers be and child passengers
if a cruise ship had 3 times as many adult passengers as child passengers when it left its first port, we have
....eg.1
if at a new port, adults and children boarded the ship, we have

if there are now more adults than children on the ship, we have

.....eq.2

substitute from eq.1

.....eq.2, solve for

go to
....eg.1, substitute

How many children were on the ship at first?

Answer by greenestamps(13198)   (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!

Let x = number of children at first
Then 3x = number of adults at first

x+50 = number of children after the new port
3x+116 = number of adults after the new port

The number of adults is now 1216 more than the number of children:

Solve using basic algebra; I leave the work to you. (Re-post, showing your work, if you don't get the answer below.)

ANSWER: 575 children and 1725 adults at first

Answer by josgarithmetic(39616)   (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!

INITIALLY NEW PORT ADULT 3x 3x+116 CHILDREN x+50 DIFFERENCE 1216

More adults than children on board before leaving new port.