Wei Ling has b beads. Hamid has 9 more beads than Wei Ling. Together they have 67 beads. How many beads does Wei Ling have?
Need a hint?
Write Hamid's beads in terms of b first, then combine the two b's into 2b before you solve.
Worked answer
- Wei Ling has b beads, so Hamid has b + 9 beads.
- Together: b + (b + 9) = 67, so 2b + 9 = 67.
- Take away 9 from both sides: 2b = 58.
- Divide both sides by 2: b = 29.
- Wei Ling has 29 beads.
Answer: 29 beads
The mistake this question tests
Habit
Collecting like terms in algebra
Pupils often subtract 9 from 67 and then stop at 58, forgetting that 58 is the total for two equal parts, so each part must be halved.
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