SOLUTION: At a certain party, 72 people are invited. Only half of those invited come. Of those who come, twice as many are women as are men. How many men and how many women come? Let x be th

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Question 511522: At a certain party, 72 people are invited. Only half of those invited come. Of those who come, twice as many are women as are men. How many men and how many women come? Let x be the number of women and y be the number of men.
Answer by oberobic(2304) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
1/2*72 = 36 attended
.
x = number of women
y = number of men
.
x = 2y
.
But you're not able to solve this equation because you have two unknowns and only one equation.
For most word problems like this, you do not use x and y.
You use: x for one value and the total - x for the other.
.
x = number women
36-x = number of men
.
Now you have one unknown and one equation.
.
x = 2(36-x)
x = 72 -2x
3x = 72
x = 24
.
36-x = 12
.
Answer: 24 women attended; 12 men attended.
.
Done.