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Question 573778: The difference of two positive numbers is 16. One number is 3 times the other. Find the two numbers.
Answer by mathsmiles(68)   (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website! Let's use X and Y to mean the two positive numbers we're looking for.
The difference between these is 16, so let's assume X is the bigger number.
X - Y = 16
"One number" is 3 times the other. Since we already said X is the bigger number, then
X = 3Y
Now we can solve since we have everything we need. :-) Since we already have one equation for X, let's use substitution method. We'll plug "X=3Y" into the first formula in place of X. Then we can solve for Y first.
X - Y = 16
(3Y) - Y = 16
simplifying:
2Y = 16
Divide by 2 on both sides:
Y = 8
Since X is 3Y,
X = 3(8)
X = 24
Checking the first equation:
X - Y = 16
24 - 8 = 16
16 = 16 Correct!
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