Originally Posted by Prism99
X = # cars going east-west (this is the unknown)
3/4 X = # cars going north-south
1400= total number of cars
Total number of cars = # going east-west + # going north-south
1400 = X + 3/4 X
X + 3/4 X = 1400
No. Go back to the original written-out descriptions of what each item is. Feline fanatic solved for X; X = 800. What is X? X is the #cars going east-west. Plug the value of X back into the equation:
X + 3/4 X = 1400
800 + 3/4(800) = 1400
800 + 600 = 1400
Look at your statement:
Thanks, so 800 cars should be 3/4 of 1400. And that would make the problem correct then.
Look at the equation. 800 is the # cars going east-west. 600 is the # cars going north-south. 1400 is the sum of 800 and 600.
What is 3/4 of 1400? 1,050. It has no relationship to anything in the equation. The 3/4 was 3/4 of 800 (X).