SOLUTION: sam and alex play in the same soccer team. last saturday alex scored 3 more goals than sam,but together they scored less than 9 goals. what are the possible number of goals alex sc

Algebra ->  Coordinate Systems and Linear Equations  -> Linear Equations and Systems Word Problems -> SOLUTION: sam and alex play in the same soccer team. last saturday alex scored 3 more goals than sam,but together they scored less than 9 goals. what are the possible number of goals alex sc      Log On


   

Question 1132826: sam and alex play in the same soccer team. last saturday alex scored 3 more goals than sam,but together they scored less than 9 goals. what are the possible number of goals alex scored?
Answer by Theo(13342) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
s = the number of goals sam scored.
a = the number of goals alex scored.

your equations are:

s + a < 9
a = s + 3

replace a with s + 3 in the first equation to get s + s + 3 < 9
combine like terms to get 2s + 3 < 9
subtract 3 from both sides to get 2s < 6
divide both sides by 2 to get s < 3

sam scored less than 3 goals.
that means sam scored 0 or 1 or 2.
alex scored 3 more than sam.
that means alex scored 3 or 4 or 5.

together they scored 3 or 5 or 7.

your solution is that alex scored 3 or 4 or 5 goals.

sam could not have scored 3 goals, because then alex would have had to score 6 and 3 + 6 is equal to 9 which is not smaller than 9.