Are you smarter than a 5th grader?

[AtticaFish]

Not me. :beat-up:

My daughter brought home an algebra problem...... algebra gives me the shakes and have never understood the 'why' part of how you get the answer. Just don't get it. Hers paper sez to splain how she gots the ancer.........

So here you go:

The total weight of recycled material was 40 pounds. The newspapers weighed four times the tin. The glass is five pounds less than the newspapers. Find how many pounds of each material was recycled.

 

[papaperch]

20# of newspapers
15 # of glass
5 # of tin

Let X represent unit of recycle material. Newspaper would be expressed as 4X , tin would be just X , and glass would be expressed as 4X - 5.

So that 4X + X + ( 4X-5 ) = 40 Extrapolating the equation we solve that X= 5
4 times 5 = 20 pounds of newspaper
5 times 1 = 5 pounds of tin
20 -5 = 15 pounds of glass

How did I do teach ?

 

[CrappieHappy]

I figured the numbers out, but glad Mr. Hays broke it
Down fer you!

 

[toadfrog]

Algebra class was my nap time . ZZZZZZZ

 

[Radtexan]

20# of newspapers
15 # of glass
5 # of tin

Let X represent unit of recycle material. Newspaper would be expressed as 4X , tin would be just X , and glass would be expressed as 4X - 5.

So that 4X + X + ( 4X-5 ) = 40 Extrapolating the equation we solve that X= 5
4 times 5 = 20 pounds of newspaper
5 times 1 = 5 pounds of tin
20 -5 = 15 pounds of glass

How did I do teach ?

You beat me to it Papa...

 

[AtticaFish]

You have the right answer....... I understood everything until the word 'extrapolating' and then good night after that. I was able to come up with the equation and variables that were needed to solve the problem and that was as far as i made it. I showed that to my (smarter than me) wife and she understood it from there. We must have married because our math skills were lacking on their own. ha!

I had to do some digging until i finally found a site that had the answers from her textbook to check it. I cheated.

 

[Ron Don]

Way to go Papa! I use to enjoy doing those kind of problems! Key words are USE To!

Steph figured it out in less than 2 minutes. Show off! Guess she better know her equation compounding 'em prescriptions.

 

[papaperch]

Yep any algebra I can do long as the answer no more than twenty. After dat no can do the cipherin in mid air. I knew that 10$ woid extrapolating would cause Attica to look for annuder beer. Heh heh.

 

[QPassage]

20# of newspapers
15 # of glass
5 # of tin

Let X represent unit of recycle material. Newspaper would be expressed as 4X , tin would be just X , and glass would be expressed as 4X - 5.

So that 4X + X + ( 4X-5 ) = 40 Extrapolating the equation we solve that X= 5
4 times 5 = 20 pounds of newspaper
5 times 1 = 5 pounds of tin
20 -5 = 15 pounds of glass

How did I do teach ?

It was tough for me, right up till I changed the newspapers to feathers, glass to deer tails , and tin to hooks. Then I figured it out. I don't miss algebra at all. Now geometry that's sumtin I use all the time