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Can this be solved without algebra? There are 168 tennis and ping pong balls.?
2/7 of tennis balls are 10 more than 2/5 of ping pong balls. How many tennis balls are there?
I used algebra and found there are 168 tennis balls. The answer is correct. But can this be solved without algebra?
3 Answers
- SqdancefanLv 76 years ago
You will have 2/7 of tennis balls be 10 more than 2/5 of ping-pong balls for any integer n such that the
.. 7(n+5) = number of tennis balls
.. 5n = number of ping-pong balls
Your answer of 168 tennis balls corresponds to n=19.
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The stated requirement constitutes a Diophantine equation, which can be solved by methods that just involve division and paying attention to remainders. (See source link.) The first step, put it in standard form, will require some algebraic manipulation, but doesn't require you to solve for a variable.
- Charlie TunaLv 76 years ago
Of course, there's always trial and error, but that's the reason algebra was invented.
