CHAPTER 6

ALGEBRAIC TECHNIQUES

By the end of this chapter, student should be able to:

1. Convert word problems into algebraic expressions

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6.1 Algebraic Expressions

An algebraic expression is one in which variables are used to represent numbers.

Example 6.1

1. What number increase by 6 gives 18 as a result?

2. The product of two numbers is 85. One is 5, find the other.

3. 15 exceed a certain number by 6. What is the number?

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4. of a number is 20. Find the number.
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5. It takes 9 times as much steel as nickel to make stainless steel. If 81 tons of stainless
steel are used in constructing a bridge, how many tons of nickel are needed?

If the statement was:

It is x times as much A as B…

➔ 𝑨 = 𝒙𝑩

If the statement was:

Sum Difference Product Quotient Equals

Plus Minus Times Divided by Gives

Added to Subtracted from Multiply Into Is/was/will be

More than Less than Twice per Yields

Increased by Decreased by Of Amounts to

Total Less Double Is equal to

1. 40% of 80 is what number?

2. Find 15% of 60.

3. 315 is what percent of 3150?

4. 8 is what percent of 4?

5. What percent of 40 is 5?

6. 20 is what percent of 30?

7. The relationship between your shoe size S and the length of your foot L (in inches) is
given by
S = 3L – 22 For men
S = 3L – 21 For women

a. If Tyrone wears a size 11 shoe, what is the length L of his foot?

b. If Maria wears a size 7 shoe, what is the length L of her foot?

c. Sams’s size 7 tennis shoes fit Sue perfectly! What size women’s tennis shoes
does Sue wear?

d. The largest shoes ever sold were a pair of size 42 shoes made for the giant Harley
Davidson of Avon Park, Florida. How long is Mr Davidson’s foot?

e. How long a foot requires a size 14 shoe, the largest standard shoe size for men?

f. How long is your foot when your shoe size is the same as the length of your foot
and you are
i. A man? ii. A woman?
8. In 1951, Eric Shipton photographed a 23-in footprint believed to be that of the
Abominable Snowman. Use the relationship given in Question 7.
a. What size shoe would the Abominable Showman need?
b. If the Abominable Snowman turned out to be the Abominable Snowwoman,
what size shoe would she need?

9. 30% of what number is 60?

10. 10 is 40% of what number?

11. North America has approximately 7% of the world’s oil reserves. If the North America
reserves represent 47 billion barrels of oil, what are the world’s oil reserves? (Round
your answer to the nearest billion)

12. In a recent year, about 280 million tons of pollutants were released into the air in the
United States. If 47% of this amount was carbon monoxide, how many tons of carbon
monoxide was that?

13. On a 60-item test, a student got 40 items correct. What percent is that? (Round to the
nearest percent)

14. The price of an article on sale was 90% of the regular price. If the sale price was $18,
what was the regular price?

15. Two stores sell an item that they normally price at $140. Store A advertises a sale
price of 25% off the regular price and Store B advertises a sale price of $100. Which
is the lower price?

16. ABC Savings & Loan loans the Adam family $42,000 toward the purchase of a
$48,000 house. What percent of the purchase price is the loan?

17. The parking cost at a citywide garage is C = 1+ 0.75(h-1), where ℎ is the number of
hours you park and C is the cost in dollars. When is the cost C less than $100?
18. Of the total calories in a McDonald’s apple pie, about 50% are fat calories. If there
are 125 fat calories in a McDonald’s apple pie, how many total calories are there in
the apple pie?

19. Of the total calories in a Big Mac, 55% are fat calories. If 313.5 of the calories in a
Big Mac are fat calories, how many total calories are there in a Big Mac?

20. The Burger King Whopper also contains 50% fat calories. If 355 of the calories in a
Whopper are fat calories, how many total calories are there in a Whopper?

21. A new computer-software store had losses of $9950 during each month of its first
year. What was the total loss for the year?

22. The greatest ocean depth is 36,198 feet below sea level. If an unmanned research sub
dives to that depth in 18 equal steps, how far does it dive in each step?

23. Tuition at the state university is $182 per credit for undergraduates. How much tuition
will Wei Chen pay for 13 credits?

24. There is a 3-degree drop in temperature for every thousand feet that an airplane climbs
into the sky. If the temperature on the ground is 50 degrees, what will be the
temperature when the plane reaches an altitude of 24,000 feet? (Source: Lands End)

25. When Ashwini discovered that her checking account was overdrawn by $238, she
quickly transferred $450 from her savings to her checking account. What is the
balance in her checking account?

26. In a laboratory experiment, a mixture started at a temperature of -102 degrees. First

27. The Tigers gained a total of 148 yard during the first half of the football game. During
the second half they lost 191 yard. How many yards did they gain or lose during the
entire game?
28. A college’s enrolment dropped by 3245 students, over the last 11 years. What was the
average drop in enrolment each year?

29. Pat ate a dozen crackers as a snack. Each cracker had 17 calories. How many calories
did Pat eat? (Source: Nabisco, Ins)

30. A long-distance phone company estimates that it is losing 95 customers each week.
How many customers will it lose in a year?

31. An unmanned submarine descends to 150 feet below the surface of the ocean and
takes a water sample. As it continues to go deeper, it takes a water sample every 25
feet. What is its depth when it takes the 15th sample?

32. A discount store found that 174 items were lost to shoplifting last month. The total
loss was $4176. What was the average loss on each item?

33. A plane ascended an average of 730 feet each minute during a 37-minute take-off.
How far did the plane ascend during the take-off?

34. A scuba diver was photographing fish at 65 feet below the surface of the lagoon. She
swam up 24 feet and then swam down 49 feet. What was her final depth?

35. The total cost of a used car is $3675. You can buy the car with $500 down and the rest
to be financed. How much do you have to finance?

36. A woman’s weekly salary after deductions is $257. If the deductions are $106, what
is her salary before the deductions?

37. In accounting: Assets – owner’s equity = liabilities

If the owner’s equity is $4787 and the liabilities $1688, what are the assets?

38. Nutritionists have discovered that a cup of coffee has 144 mg of caffeine 3 times the
amount contained an average cola drink. How many milligrams are there in an average
cola drink?
39. Elena Sanchez opened a shop that does alterations and designs custom clothing. Use
the table for her income and expenses to answer the questions.

Month Income Expenses Profit or Loss

January $2400 $3100

February $1900 $2000

March $2500 $1800

April $2300 $1400

May $1600 $1600

June $1900 $1200

a. What was Elena’s average monthly income?

b. Complete the table by finding Elena’s profit or loss for each month.

c. Which month had the greatest loss? Which month had the greatest profit?

d. What was the average monthly amount of expenses?

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40. A man entitled to his pay when he retires. If he receives $570 per month after
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retirement, what was his regular salary?

𝑚
41. The density of a substance is given by 𝑑 = , where m is the mass and 𝑣 is the
𝑣

volume. If the density of sulphur is 2 g/ml and the volume is 80 ml, what is the mass
of sulphur?

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42. Supporting tissues, like bones, ligaments, tendons and fats make up 3 of the body. If

a woman has 40 lbs of supporting tissues in her body, what is her total weight?

43. If 4 times a number is increased by 5, the result is 29. Find the number.
44. In a recent election the winning candidate obtained 10,839 votes, 632 more votes than
the loser. How many votes did the loser have?

45. In a recent election, the losing candidate received 9347 votes, 849 votes less than the
winning candidate. How many votes did the winner get?
46. The cost of an article is $57. If the profit when selling it is $11, what is the selling
price of the article?

47. During strenuous exercise the flow of blood pumped by the heart is increased to four
times its normal rate, reaching 40 pints per minute. How many pints of blood per
minute does the heart pump when at rest?

48. During strenuous exercise, the number of breaths a person takes each minute increases
to five times the normal rate, reaching 60 breaths per minute. How many breaths per
minute should a person take when at rest?

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49. When a gas tank is 3 full, it contains 18 gal of gas. What is the capacity of this tank?

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50. The dome of the village church of Equord Germany is 16 as high as the dome of St.

Peter’s Basilica. If the dome of the village church is 43.75 feet high, how high is the
dome of St. Peter’s Basilica?

51. The best linguist of all times is Cardinal Giuseppe Caspor Mezzofanti, who can
translate 186 languages and dialects. If he can translate 42 more languages than
dialects, how many dialects he can translate?

52. Eleven more than twice a number is 19. Find the number.

53. The sum of 3 times a number and 8 is 29. Find the number.

54. If the product of 3 and a number is decreased by 2, the result is 16. Find the number.

55. When 75 is subtracted from four times Tamu’s age, the result is Tamu’s age. How old
is Tamu?
56. While shopping for clothes, Consuelo spent $3 less than twice Brenda spent. Consuelo
spent $81. How much did Brenda spent?

57. My sister is 9 years older than I am. The sum of our ages is 51. Find our ages.

58. Last year, Lien earned $1500 more than her husband. Together they earned $37,500.
How much did each of them earn?

59. Jason paid five times as much for his computer as he did for his printer. He paid a total
of $1320 for both items. What is the cost of each item?

60. If 6 is added to 7 times a number, the result is 69. Find the number.

61. If three times Linda’s age is decreased by 36, the result is twice Linda’s age. How old
is Linda?

62. Dennis weight is 184 lbs. His weight is 2 lbs less than six times his child’s weight.
How much does his child weight?

63. Ed and Marge were candidates for city council. Marge won, with 94 more votes than
Ed. The total number of votes cast in the election was 578. Find the number of votes
received by each candidate.

64. A $149,000 estate is to be divided between two charities so that one charity receives
$18,000 less than the other. How much will each charity receive?

65. The attendance at the Saturday night baseball game was three times the attendance at
Sunday’s game. In all, 56,000 fans attached the games. How many fans were at each
game?

66. A board is 78 cm long. Rosa cuts the board into two pieces, with one piece 10 cm
longer than the other one. Find the length of both pieces.

67. A wire is cut into two pieces, with one piece 7 feet shorter than the other. The wire
was 31 feet long before it was cut. How long was each piece?
68. A rope is 50 feet long. Juan cuts it into two pieces so that one piece is 8 feet longer
than the other. Find the length of each piece.

69. A 90 cm pipe is cut into two pieces so that one piece is 6 cm shorter than the other.
Find the length of each piece.
70. Use the formula for the perimeter of a rectangle, P = 2l + 2w for the following
questions.

a. The perimeter of a rectangle is 48 yd. The width is 5 yd. Find the length.

b. A rectangular dog pen length is twice as long as it is wide. The perimeter of the
pen is 36 ft. find the length and the width of the pen.

c. The length of a rectangular jewellery box is 3 inches more than twice the width.
The perimeter is 36 inches. Find the length and the width.

d. The length of a rectangle is 27 cm and the perimeter is 74 cm. find the width of
the rectangle.

e. A new city park has a rectangular shape. The length is triple the width. It will
take 240 yards of fencing to go around the park. Find the length and the width
of the park.

f. The perimeter of a rectangular house is 122 ft. the width is 5 ft less the length.
Find the length and the width.
Past Year Question Bank

1. An electrician charges $40 per hour, for labour plus $50 for each house call.
a. Write an expression for the cost, C of h, hours’ work for a house call. [1]

b. Find the cost of an electrical repair work which was started at 3.30pm and was
completed at 5.50pm, if the electrician charges in multiples of 30 minutes. [2]

2. John is 30 years old. When Alvin asked John for his son, Josh’s age, John smiles and
replied, “One third of Josh’s age plus three times his age equals to my age”. How old
is Josh? [2]

3. Forty-five hours of overtime must be split among three workers. The second worker
will be assigned twice the number of hours as the first worker and the third will be
assigned twice the number of hours of the other two workers. How many hours of
overtime will be assigned to each worker? [3]
4. Fran is a photographer, and she decides to create a series of prints of two of her original
photographs that have been popular sellers in the past. One is a seascape and the other
a landscape. Previous experience suggests that she sells 20% more seascapes than
landscapes. Fran makes a profit of $50 for each seascape print, and $60 for each
landscape. If Fran would like to make a total profit of $9000 from her print run, how
many of each must be created and sold? [3]

5. A child’s train ticket costs half the adult’s ticket fare and the reservation fee is the same
on the child’s ticket as on the adult’s ticket. When a ticked is reserved, the total price is
inclusive of the ticket cost and the reservation fee. Reservation fee is charged per
transaction and not per ticket. Danny reserved an adult ticket from Johor to Kuala
Lumpur which costs $216. Andrew reserved two tickets; one adult and one child, which
cost $ 321.
a. What is the cost of a child’s train ticket? [2]
b. What is the cost of an adult’s train ticket? [1]
c. How much is the reservation fee? [1]