Word Problem

[majinknight]

Count Von Roo invited 141 monsters to his castle for a Halloween costume party, and all of the guests were either Yurbles (2 feeted monsters) or Rukis (4 feeted monsters). Because he had recently polished the floors, he provided socks for each of the guests so that they wouldn't scuff the floors.
If he required 350 socks total for his guests, how many of his guests were Yurbles?

Ok so at first i went and set it up as let y= yurbles and x=rikis so then i had two equations. 141=y+x and 350=y+x. so
y=141-x
350=(141-x)+x
But by doing that i have elimenated a variable i was trying to find. If anyone would know how i was to solve this problem it would be much appreciated.

[marlon]

suppose the number of yurbles is x. Then the rukis are with 141 - x.

The number of socks for the Yurbles is 2x and for the Rukis 4(141-x)

so that in toto : 2x + 4(141-x) = 350

marlon

[Galileo]

Hi majinknight,

A Yurble needs 2 socks and a Ruki needs 4 socks.
So the total number of socks needed is 2y+4x.

[recon]

Hi majinknight,

A Yurble needs 2 socks and a Ruki needs 4 socks.
So the total number of socks needed is 2y+4x.

Galileo, y represents the number of Rukis and x represents the number of Yurbles. Hence, the equation should be 2x + 4y = 350

majinknight, Just keep in mind that y = 141 - x.

Therefore, 2x + 4y = 2x + 4(141-x) = 350. Essentially what marlon said.

[Galileo]

Galileo, y represents the number of Rukis and x represents the number of Yurbles.
Well, Marlon changed the definition.

The original by majinknight said:

Ok so at first i went and set it up as let y= yurbles and x=rikis

[recon]

ok, lots of confusion here. :mad: I hope we have not scared majinknight away. :biggrin:

[majinknight]

Oh ok i see what i did wrong, thanks alot it makes much more sense now.