Question

Good evening all. I have a test tomorrow and I have been having the hardest time with questions like this one. Please help.
"Four employees at a crayon factory are working on four separate machines. Cynthia's machine produces 100 less than twice the number of crayons as Zane's machine every hour. Louisa's machine produces 50 crayons more than Zane's machine every hour. Evan's machine produces 20 crayons less than Cynthia's machine every hour. How many crayons must Zane's machine produce every hour in order for Cynthia and Zane output to equal Louisa and Evan's output?"

Answer 1

Start by writing general formulas for each sentence

Answer 2

CM (cynthia's machine) = 100 - 2*ZM (Zane's Machine)

Answer 3

LM = ZM + 50

Answer 4

EM (Evan's Machine) = CM - 20

Answer 5

so is it correct to also say thay EM = 2*ZM-100-20 ? or EM = (2+ZM-100)-20 or neither?

Answer 6

Now read the question... I interpret it to mean, how many crayons must Zane's Machine be if CM + ZM = LM + EM

Answer 7

1 second. I'm gonna get a pencil :P

Answer 8

=)

Answer 9

I got a pencil... Give me a little bit. This question isn't worded very clearly

Answer 10

ok thank you so much! I have a test on this and I am dying.

Answer 11

First of all, this is a bad question.

Answer 12

What you wrote is correct though. EM = 2*ZM - 100 - 20

Answer 13

Since CM = 2*ZM - 100 (100 less than TWICE the output of Zane's machine)

Answer 14

The reason I say this question is bad is because, I interpret the question to be asking, what is Zane's machine's output in order to make ZM + CM = LM + EM

Answer 15

right, me too.

Answer 16

But, after doing some algebra, it seems that is impossible since you will end up with 3 ZM on the left side of the equation and 3 ZM on the right side of the equation

Answer 17

Are you sure you copied it correctly?

Answer 18

I will recheck now.

Answer 19

Hey... I'm in university... I have to get up for class tomorrow.

Answer 20

sorry it took so long I wanted to upload a picture.

Answer 21

Yea no worries

Answer 22

This question is poorly worded then.

Answer 23

If all of the variables (cynthia's output, louisa's output, and evan's output) are dependent upon lane's output, then we end up with an equation like follows:

Answer 24

CM + ZM = EM + LM

Answer 25

(2*ZM - 100) + ZM = (CM - 20) + (ZM + 50)

Answer 26

(2*ZM - 100) + ZM = ((2*ZM - 100) - 20) + (ZM + 50)

Answer 27

3ZM - 100 = 3ZM -70

Answer 28

There's no solution

Answer 29

ok.

Answer 30

Either the question has no answer or it is worded badly

Answer 31

In my opinion...

Answer 32

Well, I'm in university, I have class tomorrow (including a test) so I got to go

Answer 33

Need some sleep. Talk to you later and good luck with the test.

Answer 34

thank you so very much!

Answer 35

np, hope it helped.

Answer 36

it did, thanks!

Answer 37

The trick to those problems it to write out each sentence as a mathematical statement.

Answer 38

Take your time and build your facts.

Answer 39

ok