01-NelsonMathGr6-Chap01 7/18/05 8:34 AM Page 26

CHAPTER 1

8
Goal

Variables in Equations
Solve equations including symbols
representing variables.

Evan had no money. His Aunt Sally and Uncle Wally each gave
Evan some money, so he now has $16.
His aunt and uncle wanted to be fair, so they also gave Evans
sister, Adele, the same gifts. Adele says she used to have the same
amount of money that Uncle Wally gave her, but now she has $20.

? How much did Aunt Sally give to each child?

Maggies Solution
I can write an equation to represent Evans money.
Aunt Sallys gift  Uncle Wallys gift  $16
I choose these symbols: S to represent the amount Aunt Sally
gave and W to represent the amount Uncle Wally gave.
Now I can rewrite the equation for Evans money:

S + W = 16

I can write an equation to represent Adeles money.

Aunt Sallys gift  Uncle Wallys gift  what Adele already had  $20
But what Adele already had is equal to Uncle Wallys
gift so I can also represent that amount with W.
Now I can rewrite the equation for Adeles money:

S + W + W = 20

I see S  W in both equations.

I know S  W  16, so I can rewrite the equation for Adeles money:
I know 16  4  20, so the value of W must be 4.
This means that Uncle Wally gave $4.
To determine what Aunt Sally gave, I can rewrite the equation for
Evans money by replacing the W with 4.
I know 12  4  16, so the value of S must be 12.

S + W + W = 20
16 + W = 20
W=4
S + W = 16
S + 4 = 16
S = 16

Aunt Sally gave each child $12.

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01-NelsonMathGr6-Chap01 7/18/05 8:34 AM Page 27

Reflecting
1. How did Maggie use the equation for Evans money
in the equation for Adeles money?
2. Why did you need to know that Uncle Wally gave Adele
the same amount as she had to solve the problem?

Checking
3. A baseball manager reported on the numbers of players on
two teams. She said:
Team 1 has 16 players, some experienced and some novices.
Team 2 has 12 players. Team 2 has the same number of
novices as Team 1, but has only three experienced players.
a) Explain what situation is represented by this equation: E  N  16
b) Explain what situation is represented by this equation: N  3  12
c) How many novices are on Team 2?
d) How many experienced players are on Team 1?

Practising
4. In a collection of 50 cards, Sal has some valuable and
some regular cards. He has 16 more valuable cards than
regular cards.
a) Explain what information is represented by this equation: V  R  50
b) Explain what information is represented by this equation: V  R  16
c) Explain what information is represented by this equation: R  16  R  50
d) How many of each kind of card does Sal have?
5. In a fruit bowl there are twice as many apples as oranges.
Altogether there are 9 pieces of fruit.
a) Explain what information is represented by this equation: A  O  9
b) Explain what information is represented by this equation: A  O  O
c) How many of each kind of fruit is there?
6. The perimeter of an isosceles triangle is 39 cm. The longest
side is 6 cm longer than the shortest side.
a) Could the equations L  L  S  39 and L  S  6
represent the lengths of the sides? Explain.
b) Could the equations S  S  L  39 and L  S  6
represent the lengths of the sides? Explain.
c) Determine the side lengths for both a) and b).

NEL

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