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Two numbers differ by eight. Four more than five times the larger is seventy-one decreased by four times

the smaller. Find the numbers.

User Srik
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1 Answer

7 votes

Final answer:

The problem is solved by defining the two unknowns with equations x - y = 8 and 5x + 4 = 71 - 4y. Through a process of substitution and simplification, the two numbers are determined to be 27 and 35.

Step-by-step explanation:

To solve this problem, let's start by defining the variables.

Let x be the larger number and y be the smaller number.

According to the problem, we know two things:

x - y = 8 and 5x + 4 = 71 - 4y.

These two equations will allow us to solve the problem using the method of substitution or elimination.

Let's rewrite the second equation by isolating 5x on one side: 5x = 67 + 4y.

Now we can substitute x from the first equation into this new form of the second equation, giving us: 5(y + 8) = 67 + 4y.

Expand and simplify to solve for y.

After simplification, we get: 5y + 40 = 67 + 4y, which simplifies further to y = 27.

Using y to find x, we have x = y + 8 = 27 + 8 = 35.

Therefore, the two numbers are 27 and 35.

User Jaqx
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7.6k points