Question

Jean bought a car with 18 wheels. Some wheels were new and some were old. Jean had to fix flat tires. She fixed a total of 8 wheels. All of the wheels she fixed were old wheels. The most she could have fixed was twice on the same wheel. What is the most possible new wheels on the car when Jean bought it?

Answer 1

14 new wheels

Step-by-step explanation:

Let the number of old and new wheels be x and y respectively

The car has a total of 18 wheels, therefore:

`\begin{gathered} x+y=18 \\ \implies y=18-x \end{gathered}`

All the 8 fixed wheels were old, so, the least number of new wheels will be:

`y=18-8\implies y=10`

However, if at maximum, she fixed each old wheel twice:

`\begin{gathered} Number\text{ of old wheels}=(8)/(2)=4 \\ y=18-4=14 \end{gathered}`

The most possible new wheels on the car when Jean bought it is 14.