Problem of the Week - Algebra and Up - Oct. 25, 2020 to Oct. 31, 2020

Algebra and Up: 

Question: Logan has answered 0.8 times as many math questions as Spanish questions, and he has answered 5 more English questions than Spanish questions. If Logan has answered 33 questions in total, how many math questions has Logan answered? 

Answer: 8 math questions

Solution: We can set up and solve the following system of equations to solve this problem:

M = 0.8S

E = S + 5

M + S + E = 33

Next, we plug the values of M and E into the third equation because they’re both already in terms of S. Now we have an equation with one variable—S. We can solve it to find that S = 10, so M must be 8. Logan has answered 8 math questions.