Question

Unknown Numbers

Consider the following problem.
One number is 3 less than 6 times a second number.
Their sum is 46. Find the numbers
If × represents the second number, which equation is
correct for solving this problem?

Answer 1

Explanation:

y is the second number. This means we can define it as the following equations where x is the second number:

y=6x-3

y+x=46

we have a system of equations, let's move all x to the right side

y=6x-3

y=46-x

this means that 6x-3=46-x

6x+x=46+3

7x=49

x=7

now that we know x we can calculate the y through one of the equations above:

y=39