Cleopatra was needed barge workers, and when the word went out 175 workers showed up, that is 21/2 times the amount needed. How many workers were originally needed? (I am trying to help my niece with her homework, and we live 600 miles apart. Can you explain to me how to get the answer?)
Let x = original number needed.
2.5x=175 (I assume that is 2-1/2 or 2.5 and not 21/2; i.e., twenty one halves.)
x = 70
Give your neice this site and let her post her questions. It will be faster and we would love to help her. You can help, too, of course, by checking to make sure we are answering correctly. BUT we don't usually work the problem through as I have done for this one.
Sure! To find the original number of workers needed, we'll use algebraic equations. Let's assign a variable to represent the original number of workers needed. Let's call it "x".
According to the information given, 175 workers showed up, which is 21/2 times the amount needed. We can represent this mathematically as:
175 = (21/2) * x
To solve this equation for "x", we can multiply both sides by 2/21:
175 * (2/21) = (21/2) * x * (2/21)
Simplifying this equation gives:
350/21 = x
Therefore, the original number of workers needed, represented by "x", is 350/21.
To convert this fraction into a mixed number or decimal, you can divide 350 by 21, which gives approximately 16.67. Since we can't have a fraction of a worker, we could round up to the nearest whole number, which is 17.
Therefore, the original number of workers needed is 17.