How many family members originally had to share $6570?

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Homework Help Overview

The problem involves dividing a total of $6570 among family members, with the situation changing when 9 additional members insist on their share, resulting in a decrease of $120 in the individual share. The goal is to determine the original number of family members who were to share the amount.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Assumption checking, Mathematical reasoning

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • Participants discuss the formulation of the problem, including defining variables for individual shares and the number of family members. There are attempts to express the individual share in terms of the number of family members and to set up equations based on the problem's conditions. Questions arise about the correct use of parentheses in mathematical expressions and the implications of fractional family members.

Discussion Status

The discussion has progressed with participants providing guidance on how to express the individual share mathematically and suggesting that a quadratic equation may be derived from the problem. Some participants have expressed confusion about the calculations and the interpretation of results, while others have pointed out the importance of clarity in mathematical notation.

Contextual Notes

There are indications of confusion regarding the setup of the equations and the interpretation of results, particularly concerning the feasibility of obtaining fractional values for the number of family members. Participants are encouraged to verify their calculations against the original problem statement.

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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