Question 67920
The $75 dollar cost for a party was to be shared equally by all those attending. Since 5 more people attended than was expected, the price per person dropped by 50 cents. How many people attended the party?
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Let "x" be the original number attending
Price per person would have been 75/x
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When 5 more attended the number attending was "x+5"
Price per person is then 75/(x+5)
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EQUATION:
Old price - New price = 50 cents
75/x - 75/(x+5) = 50 
3/x - 3/(x+5) = 2
Multiply thru by x(x+5) to get:
3(x+5) - 3x = 2x(x+5)
3x+15 - 3x = 2x^2+10x
2x^2+10x-15=0
x=[-10+-sqrt(100-4*2*-15)]/4
x=[-10+-sqrt(220)]/4
NOTE: This does not turn to be a whole number.
Please check your problem data.
Cheers,
Stan H.