Question

About​ 250,000 people of a certain community live in the country. Of that​ number, 73,940 live in state A and state B. The number of people of that community in state B is 12,420 more than three times the number in state A. How many people of that community live in each​ state?

Answer 1

15,380 people of the community live in state A, while 58,560 people of that community live in state B.

Explanation:

we can represent this word problem as a system of equations

A + B = 73940

3A + 12420 = B

solve

A + 3A + 12420 = 73940

4A + 12420 = 73940

4A = 73940 - 12420

4A = 61520

A = 61520/4

A = 15380

plug in A to solve for B

3(15380) + 12420 = B

46140 + 12420 = 58560

B = 58560