SOLUTION: In apartment 5C, lamps, an air conditioner, and a television set are all operating at the same time. The lamps use 10 times as many watts of electricity as the television set, and

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Question 388721: In apartment 5C, lamps, an air conditioner, and a television set are all operating at the same time. The lamps use 10 times as many watts of electricity as the television set, and the air conditioner uses 40 times as many watts as the television set. The total wattage used in the apartment is 2550. How many watts are used by each appliance?
Answer by Earlsdon(6294) About Me  (Show Source):
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Let L = the number of watts used by the lamp.
Let T = the number of watts used by the television set.
Let A = the number of watts used by the air conditioner.
Given:
L+T+A = 2550 watts.
L = 10T "The lamps use 10 times as many watts as the telvision set."
A = 40T "...the air conditioner uses 40 times as many watts as the television set."
Starting with:
L+T+A = 2550 Substitute L = 10T.
(10T)+T+A = 2550 Now substitute A = 40T.
(10T)+T+(40T) = 2550 Simplify.
51T = 2550 Divide both sides by 51.
T = 50 watts and...
L = 10T
L = 10(50)
L = 500 watts and...
A = 40T
A = 40(50)
A = 2000 watts.
So the lamps use 500 watts, the television set uses 50 watts, and the air conditioner uses 2000 watts.