Question 115500This question is from textbook Prentice Hall Mathematics 
:  find the value of x and y in the parallelogram PQRS 
  the diagonals of the parallelogram are QS and RP,and they bisect at point T.  QT=3x, RT=y+3, PT=2x, and ST=2y 
I have done number 18, and I have been working on this one for probably half an hour. I just don't know how to get the answer from the information given. 
Thank you! 
This question is from textbook Prentice Hall Mathematics 
 Answer by bucky(2189)      (Show Source): 
You can  put this solution on YOUR website! If I understand your problem correctly, the most critical information you need to use is that  
the diagonals bisect each other. From this you know that: 
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QT = ST and 
RT = PT 
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For the top equation you can substitute 3x for QT and 2y for ST to make the equation: 
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3x = 2y 
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For the bottom equation you can substitute y + 3 for RT and 2x for PT and it becomes: 
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y + 3 = 2x 
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So you have the two equations: 
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3x = 2y and 
y + 3 = 2x 
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Let's solve them by substitution. Solve the bottom equation for y by subtracting 3 from both 
sides to end up with: 
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y = 2x - 3 
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Now go to the top equation [3x = 2y] and substitute 2x - 3 for y to get: 
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3x = 2(2x - 3) 
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Multiply out the right side: 
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3x = 4x - 6 
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get rid of the 6 on the right side by adding 6 to both sides and you have: 
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3x + 6 = 4x 
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Subtract 3x from both sides and you finally get to: 
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6 = x 
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Now that you know x = 6 you can return to either of the two original equations, substitute 6 for 
x, and solve for y. Let's return to the equation 2y = 3x and substitute 6 for x to get: 
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2y = 3*6 
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Multiply out the right side: 
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2y = 18 
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Solve for y by dividing both sides by 2 to get: 
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y = 9 
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In summary, we've found that x = 6 and y = 9 
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Let's check. From the geometry we know PT should equal RT. PT is 2x which is 2*6 or 12. RT is y + 3 
which is 9 + 3 = 12. Line PR is bisected at T because both PT and RT equal 12. 
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Also from the geometry we know that QT should equal ST. QT = 3x = 3*6 = 18. And ST = 2y = 2*9 = 18. 
This means that diagonal QS is bisected at T because both QT and ST equal 18. 
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Hope this helps you to understand the problem and how to get the answers for x and y. 
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