Question 104612
Ok to find out how many non-ficiton books Mr. Bedell has we have to use the given information to write an equation.
Lets start by calling the non-fiction books x. This will be the variable in our equation that we will solve for.
non-ficition books = x
Now lets look at what we are given
Given: Mr. Bedell's fiction collection is 27 more than a third of his non-ficiton collection.
Ok "27 more" is +27
and "a third of his non-fiction collection" is {{{(1/3)(x)}}} which is the same as {{{x/3}}}
Put these two together and we have:
{{{(x/3)+27}}}
Now we are also told that Mr. Bedell has 107 fiction books in his classroom.
so this means that:
{{{(x/3)+27=107}}}
Now we have an equation that we can solve.
{{{(x/3)+27=107}}}
first subtract 27 from both sides of the equal sign
{{{(x/3)+27-27=107-27}}}
the 27's on the left side cancel out leaving this
{{{(x/3)=107-27}}}
{{{(x/3)=80}}}
now to solve for x multiply both sides by 3
{{{3*(x/3)=80*3}}}
{{{3x/3=240}}}
{{{x = 240}}}
<B>Answer: Mr. Bedell has 240 non-fiction books</b>
Check by replacing x in the original equation with 240
{{{(x/3)+27=107}}}
{{{(240/3)+27=107}}}
{{{80+27=107}}}
{{{107=107}}}