How many family members originally had to share $6570?

AI Thread Summary
The discussion revolves around solving a math problem involving the division of $6570 among family members. The original poster is trying to determine how many family members initially shared the amount before 9 additional members insisted on their share, which reduced the individual share by $120. Participants suggest writing the individual share (S) in terms of the original number of family members (X) and emphasize the importance of using parentheses for clarity in equations. Ultimately, the original poster finds a quadratic equation but ends up with non-integer values for family members, prompting further discussion about the validity of such results. The conversation highlights the need for careful algebraic manipulation and the constraints of the problem regarding whole numbers.
tinybang
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Am a little stuck on a question in my maths homework. Here goes. $6570 to be divided among members of a family. 9 other members of the family find out about the cash and insist on there share. as a result the share was reduced by $120.

Find original number of family members.

So far I've got.
S=Individual share of money
X=Original number of family members

S-120= $6570/x+9
(x+9)(S-120)=6570
XS-x120+S9-1080=6570
XS-x120+S9=7650

Am not sure if I am on the right track or not and I am not sure where to go from here. Any help appreciated.
 
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tinybang said:
Am a little stuck on a question in my maths homework. Here goes. $6570 to be divided among members of a family. 9 other members of the family find out about the cash and insist on there share. as a result the share was reduced by $120.

Find original number of family members.

So far I've got.
S=Individual share of money
X=Original number of family members

S-120= $6570/x+9
Use parentheses. It has to be written $6570/(x+9)

tinybang said:
(x+9)(S-120)=6570
XS-x120+S9-1080=6570
XS-x120+S9=7650

Am not sure if I am on the right track or not and I am not sure where to go from here. Any help appreciated.

It is the right track, but you can write S in terms of x. If $6570 is divided among x people, what is the share of one person?

ehild
 
What do you mean by write S in terms of X?
 
S is the original share, 6570 divided by among people. How do you write it mathematically?

ehild
 
Should i divide both sides by XS? I know i need to isolate one of the terms. Just not sure how to go about it.
 
tinybang said:
Should i divide both sides by XS? I know i need to isolate one of the terms. Just not sure how to go about it.

No. Answer my question. What is the amount one person gets if 6570 is divided among x people?

Say, there are 10 people in the family, so x=10. How much one person gets?

ehild
 
6570/x+9 6570/19 = 324.73
 
No, I meant the original amount, they got before the other family members arrived.

You share 24 apples among 4 people, how many apples does on person get? If two more persons come and they also want their share, hove many it will be?

And I do not understand what you wanted to say. You wrote that 6570 is divided by x and 96570 divided by 19 and the ratios added. Where did you get that 96570 from? If x=10, that sum is 5740 instead of 324.73.


ehild
 
tinybang said:
6570/x+9 6570/19 = 324.73

Wrong.
\frac{6570}{x} + 9 \neq 324.73
If you mean
\frac{6570}{x+9}
then take the trouble to write it properly, using parentheses, like this: 6570/(x+9). It is not hard to do, and makes everything much more readable.
 
  • #10
Ray Vickson said:
If you mean
\frac{6570}{x+9}
then take the trouble to write it properly, using parentheses, like this: 6570/(x+9). It is not hard to do, and makes everything much more readable.
To the OP,
6570/x + 9 means ##\frac{6570}{x} + 9##, which is not what you intended. As Ray says, use parentheses to write what you mean.

Also, what you wrote in the earlier post is missing an equals sign, leading to additional confusion.
tinybang said:
6570/x+9 6570/19 = 324.73
This should be 6570/(x + 9) =[/color] 6570/19 = <whatever>
 
  • #11
Am really sorry ill keep all that in mind. I seriously have no idea where to go with this. I've tried the method of elimination/substitution. Does this perhaps have to be a quadratic function?
 
  • #12
You will get a quadratic equation for x.

ehild
 
  • #13
Hey I ended up working it out. Took me a good few hours but yes I ended up with a quadratic. Thanks for the help. :)
 
  • #14
I am pleased. What did you get for x?

ehild
 
  • #15
For the purpose of this thread I did change the equation a bit from the my homework as a result I got decimal numbers which may seem a bit strange.

S I got 250.28 and X i got 26.25
 
  • #16
You have x people initially, and each one of them was to get S dollars. How many dollars does this amount to in total (in terms of x and S only)? How is this related to the $6570?

Chet
 
  • #17
tinybang said:
For the purpose of this thread I did change the equation a bit from the my homework as a result I got decimal numbers which may seem a bit strange.

S I got 250.28 and X i got 26.25

What is the original statement of the problem that gives you these numbers? If X represents a number of family members, does a fractional number for family members make sense?
 
  • #18
tinybang said:
For the purpose of this thread I did change the equation a bit from the my homework as a result I got decimal numbers which may seem a bit strange.

S I got 250.28 and X i got 26.25

You should check your calculations by using your value of x in the original problem statement.
I worked through the algebra and I got a different result.

You also can't have a fraction of a person showing up to claim a share, since the number of humans is maddeningly restricted to the set of positive integers.
 
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