Question

In the last student-council elections, Jill got x number of votes. Morgan got twice as many votes as Jill. Trisha won the election with 7 more votes than Morgan. If 327 students voted in the election, write and solve an equation to determine how many votes Trisha got.

Answer 1

the equation is x + 2x + 2x + 7 = 327

or 5x + 7 = 327

x = 64

Trisha has 135 votes.

Explanation:

Jill has x votes.

If Morgan got twice as many votes as Jill, then Morgan has

2 times the number of votes

or 2x

Trisha won the election with 7 more votes than Morgan's, so we add 7 to this amount

2x + 7

So assuming Jill, Morgan, and Trisha are the only three candidates:

then x + 2x + 2x + 7 = 327

Combine like terms

5x + 7 = 327

Subtract 7 from both sides

5x = 320

x = 64

Check answer for x:

64 + 2(64) + 2(64) + 7 = 64 + 128 + 128 + 7 = 327

So Trisha has

2x + 7 = 2(64) + 7 = 128 + 7 = 135 votes