Question

There are 4 semi-trailer trucks parked in a line at the rest stop. After the first truck, each truck in the line weighs 2 tons more than the truck before it. The trucks weigh a total of 32 tons. How many pounds does each truck weigh?

Answer 1

The weights of the trucks are 5, 7, 9 and 11 tons respectively.

Explanation:

Let the weight of first truck = x ( in tons ).

It is given that the weight of the trucks is increasing by 2 tons after the first truck.

So, we get,

Truck Weight

1 x

2 x+2

3 x+2+2 = x+4

4 x+4+2 = x+6

Since, the total weights of the trucks is 32 tons. We get,

`x+(x+2)+(x+4)+(x+6)=32`

i.e.
`4x+12=32`

i.e.
`4x=20`

i.e. x= 5

So, the weight of the first truck is 5 tons.

Then, we have,

The weight of 2nd truck = 5+2 = 7 tons

The weight of 2nd truck = 5+4 = 9 tons

The weight of 2nd truck = 5+6 = 11 tons

Hence, the weights of the trucks are 5, 7, 9 and 11 tons respectively.

Answer 2

let the weight of the first truck be represented by w.

total weight = w + (2 + w) + (2 + 2 + w) + (2 + 2 + 2 + w)
32 = 4w + 12
20 = 4w
w = 5

Therefore, the first truck weighs 5 tons, the second weighs 7 tons, the third weighs 9 tons and the fourth weighs 11 tons.