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Home / Algebra / Solving Equations and Inequalities / Applications of Linear Equations
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Section 2.3 : Applications of Linear Equations


  1. In a clearance bin everything has been reduced by 75%. One item is listed in the bin for $32.40. How much was the price of the item before it was put into the clearance bin?
  2. A piece of electronics has been marked up 20% and is selling for $21.50. How much did the store pay for the item?
  3. A widget is on sale for $715.80 and has been marked down by 11%. What was the original price of the widget?
  4. Two cars start at the same point and move in the same direction. One car travels 5mph faster than the twice the speed of other car. After 10 hours the distance separating the two cars is 60 miles. What was the speed of each car?
  5. Two people start out 100 meters apart from each other and start moving towards each other at the same time. One person is moving at half the speed of the other person and they meet after 25 seconds of travel time. What was the speed of each person?
  6. Two boats start at the same point. One boat starts traveling to the east at 45 mph and two hours later the second boat starts traveling to the east at 60 mph. At some point in time the faster boat will be 145 miles in front of the slower boat. How long has each boat been traveling when this happens?
  7. One machine can complete a production run at a factory in 46 hours. Two machines can complete the production run in 25 hours if they work together. How long would it take the second machine to complete the production run if it had to do the job by itself?
  8. One person can mow a field in 52 minutes and a second can mow the same field in 40 minutes. How long would it take the two of them to mow the field together?
  9. One pump can fill a pool in 11 hours and a second pump can empty the same pool in 4 hours. While the pool is full both pumps are accidentally both turned on at the same time. How long will does it take to empty the pool?
  10. How much pure acid should we add to a 32% acid solution to get 10 liters of a 60% acid solution.
  11. We have 80 liters of a 2% saline solution. How much of a 10% saline solution should we add to this to increase the salinity to 4%?
  12. We have 10 gallons of a 26% alcohol solution and we need 15 gallons of an 18% alcohol solution. What % alcohol solution should we add to the 26% solution to get the solution we want?
  13. There is a field whose width is 6 meters less than its length. If both the length and width are doubled the perimeter will be 120 meters. What are the dimensions of the field?
  14. A triangular piece of glass has been cut for a stained glass window. Two of the sides are the same length and the third side is 1 inch shorter than ½ the length of the other two sides. If the perimeter is 23 inches what are the lengths of the sides?