B i col Un i v er si ty

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING Basic Engineering

Electrical Engineering Department
Legazpi City
Mathematics

SOLVING WORD PROBLEMS

I. Age Problem

Age problems usually follow a certain pattern. They refer to ages at different
points in time. This type of problem must be solved meticulously by giving more
emphasis to the tenses (i.e., past, present or future) of the statement.

NOTE: Remember that in solving age problems, generally, the time elapsed for all
persons concerned is equal.

SAMPLE PROBLEM:
Mary is twice as old as Ann was when Mary was as old as Ann is now.
When Ann will be as old as Mary now, the sum of their ages is 180. Find the
age of each now.

PAST PRESENT FUTURE

Mary y 2x 4x – y
Ann x y 2x

Considering the time elapsed from PAST to PRESENT,

22x – y = y – x
3x – 2y = 0 (Eq. 1)

“the sum of their ages is 180”

4x – y + 2x = 180
2x + 6x – y = 180 (Eq. 2)

Solving Eq. 1 and Eq. 2,

x = 40
y = 60

Therefore, Mary’s age at present is 2x = 2(40) = 80 years old; and

Ann’s age at present is y = 60 years old.

1
 Solving Word Problems

II. Work Problem

FACTS TO REMEMBER WHEN SOLVING WORK PROBLEMS:

1. The jobs in each problem are either the same or equivalent jobs.
2. Unit of measures must be the same. Do not mix different unit of measures in
the same equation.
3. The rate of each person is added to obtain the total working rate. Do not add
the time consumed.

SAMPLE PROBLEM:
A man can finish a certain job in three-fourths time a boy can. The boy can
finish the job in 2/3 the time that a girl can, and the man and the girl working
jointly can finish the job in 4 hrs. How long will it take to finish the job if they
all work together?

kapleocadio’22

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 Solving Word Problems

Specific Work
When there is a specific work and specific time and manpower, the rate of
doing the work may be computed using the number of man-hours.

NOTE: The rates of doing a particular work given the same manpower is equal.

SAMPLE PROBLEM:
If 20 bakers can bake 40 pizzas in 8 hours, how many bakers can bake 10
pizzas in 2 hours?

Therefore,
kapleocadio’22

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 Solving Word Problems

III. Mixture Problem

FACTS TO REMEMBER WHEN SOLVING MIXTURE PROBLEMS:

1. The amount in the first mixture plus the amount in the second mixture is
equal to the amount in the total mixture. Use this fact to set up unknowns.
2. The amount of solute in the first mixture plus the amount of solute in the
second mixture is equal to the amount of solute in the total mixture.
Conversely, the amount of solvent in the first mixture plus the amount of
solvent in the second mixture is equal to the amount of solvent in the total
mixture.

SAMPLE PROBLEM:
A chemist has 300 grams of 20% hydrochloric acid. He wishes to drain
some of it and replace it with an 80% HCl solution so as to obtain a 25%
solution. How many grams must be drain and replaced with 80% HCl solution?

IV. Digit Problem

Digit word problems are problems that involve individual digits in integers
and how digits are related according to the question.
Some problems would involve treating the digits as individual numbers to be
related. This would make it similar to an integer problem, except that the integers
are between 0 and 9, inclusive.
kapleocadio’22

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 Solving Word Problems

SAMPLE PROBLEM:
The sum of the digits of a three-digit number is 12. The middle digit is
equal to the sum of the other two digits, and the number shall be increased by
198 if its digits are reversed. Find the number.

kapleocadio’22

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 Solving Word Problems

V. Motion Problem
In Algebra, the problems pertaining to motion deals only with a uniform velocity, i.e., no
acceleration or deceleration in the process. The following is the relationship between the distance
(d), time (t) and velocity (v).

Average Speed
Average speed (Vave) is the total distance travelled divided by the total time of
travel.
𝑑𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑑1 + 𝑑2 + ⋯ + 𝑑𝑛
𝑉𝑎𝑣𝑒 = =
𝑡𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑡1 + 𝑡2 + ⋯ + 𝑡𝑛

NOTE: If there are 𝑛 numbers of individual speeds travelling at the same

distance, the general equation for the average speed is:
𝑛
𝑉𝑎𝑣𝑒 =
1 1 1
+ + ⋯+
𝑉1 𝑉2 𝑉𝑛

SAMPLE PROBLEM:
A motorist is travelling from town A to town B at 60 kph & returns from
town B to town A at 30 kph. What is his average velocity for the roundtrip?
2
𝑉𝑎𝑣𝑒 = = 𝟒𝟎 𝐤𝐩𝐡
1 1
60 + 30

Relative Velocity
Relative Velocity (VR) is the vector sum of the objects velocity and the other’s
velocity affecting it.
𝑽𝑹 = 𝑽𝑶 ± 𝑽𝑾

where, +𝑉𝑅𝑂𝑊 = relative velocity

+𝑉𝑂𝑅𝑊 = velocity of object (such as boat or airplane)
kapleocadio’22

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 Solving Word Problems

+𝑉𝑊𝑅𝑂 = velocity of water/wind that affects the velocity of the

object going downstream or along the direction of the
water/wind.
−𝑉𝑊𝑅𝑂 = velocity of water/wind that affects the velocity of the
object going upstream or against the direction of the
water/wind.

SAMPLE PROBLEM:
A boat travels downstream in 2/3 of the time as it goes going upstream
If the velocity of the river’s current is 8 kph, determine the velocity of the boat
in still water.

VI. Coin Problem

Problems in Algebra about coins are more focused on the dollar denomination
than the local Philippine currency.
The following are the equivalent value for each coin. kapleocadio’22

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 Solving Word Problems

SAMPLE PROBLEM:
A coin collector had a collection of silver coins worth $205. There were five
times as many quarters as half-dollars, and 200 fewer dimes than quarters. How
many dimes did the collector have?

kapleocadio’22

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 Solving Word Problems

VII. Clock Problem

A clock problem is a mathematical problem which focuses on the relationship

of the movements of the hands (hour hand, minute hand, second hand) of the
clocks.

NOTE: If the minute hand moves 𝑥 minutes, the hour hand moves 𝑥/12
minutes.
In 12 hours, the minute hand and the hour hand coincide 11 times
(not 12 times). Therefore, in one day, they will coincide a total of 22
times.
Each five-minute mark subtends an angle of 30° from the center of
the clock.

SHORTCUT TIPS:
For problems involving angles subtended by the hour hand and minute
hand, and hands of the clock coinciding, perpendicular or in a straight line, use
the formula
𝒙
𝐌=𝒙+
𝟏𝟏
where M = exact minutes elapsed
𝑥 = minutes to satisfy the condition considering hour hand does not
move to find the exact number of minutes elapsed.

SAMPLE PROBLEM:
How many minutes after one o’clock will the hands of the clock coincide
for the first time.
5
M=5+ = 𝟓. 𝟒𝟓 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐬
11

SPECIAL CASE: [Leocadio Formula]

SAMPLE PROBLEM:
A man left his home at past 3:00 o'clock PM as indicated in his home wall
clock, between 2 to 3 hours after he returns home and noticed the hands of the
clock were interchanged. At what time did the man leave his home?

For problems similar to the one above, we can use the following formulas:
144 𝑀𝐻
𝑀𝐷 = (𝑀𝑀 + )
143 12
144 𝑀𝑀
𝑀𝐴 = (𝑀𝐻 + )
143 12
where MD = minutes of departure
kapleocadio’22

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 Solving Word Problems

MA = minutes of arrival
MM = minutes of the minute hand
MH = minutes of the hour hand

144 15
𝑀𝐷 = (30 + ) = 𝟑𝟏. 𝟒𝟔𝟖𝟓 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐬
143 12

Therefore, he left home at 3:31.4685 PM.

NOTE: If in the given duration, the hour hand of the clock passes through
the 12 o’clock mark, use the lesser hour; if not, use the greater hour.

VIII. Sequences and Series

A sequence (or sometimes termed as progression) is a set or collection of

numbers arranged in an orderly manner such that the preceding and the following
numbers are completely specified.
An infinite sequence is a function whose domain is the set of positive integers.
If the domain of the function consists of the first 𝑛 positive integers only, then it is
said to be a finite sequence.

1+3+5+7+9 → finite sequence

1+3+5+7+9+⋯ → infinite sequence

Elements are the term used to describe the numbers in a given sequence. An
element is sometimes called a term.
Series is the sum of the terms in a sequence.
An alternating series has positive and negative terms arranged alternately.
If an infinite series has a finite sum, it is referred to as convergent series and
divergent series if it has no sum at all.

A. Arithmetic Sequence and Series

A sequence is said to be in arithmetic progression if its succeeding terms
are generated by adding a nonzero constant to the preceding term – the constant
we call common difference.
The corresponding sum of all the terms in arithmetic progression is called
as arithmetic series.

𝒏th term: 𝑎𝑛 = 𝑎1 + (𝑛 − 1)𝑑

𝑛 𝑛
Sum: 𝑆𝑛 = 2 (𝑎1 + 𝑎𝑛 ) = 2 [2𝑎1 + (𝑛 − 1)𝑑]
where 𝑎𝑛 = 𝑛th term
kapleocadio’22

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 Solving Word Problems

𝑎1 = first term
𝑛 = number of terms
𝑑 = common difference
= 𝑎2 − 𝑎1 = 𝑎3 − 𝑎2 = ⋯ = 𝑎𝑛 − 𝑎𝑛−1
𝑆𝑛 = sum of the first 𝑛 terms

B. Geometric Sequence and Series

A sequence is said to be in geometric progression if its succeeding terms
are generated by multiplying a nonzero factor not equal to 1 to the preceding
term – the factor we call common ratio.
The corresponding sum of all the terms in geometric progression is called
as geometric series.

𝒏th term: 𝑎𝑛 = 𝑎1 𝑟 𝑛−1

𝑎1 (𝑟 𝑛 −1)
Sum: 𝑆𝑛 = 𝑟−1

where 𝑎𝑛 = 𝑛th term

𝑎1 = first term
𝑛 = number of terms
𝑟 = common ratio
= 𝑎2 /𝑎1 = 𝑎3 /𝑎2 = ⋯ = 𝑎𝑛 /𝑎𝑛−1
𝑆𝑛 = sum of the first 𝑛 terms

C. Infinite Geometric Series

This type of progression is a geometric progression only that the number
of terms (𝑛) is extremely large or infinity.
If 𝑟 > 1, sum of all terms is infinite.
If 0 < 𝑟 < 1, sum of all terms is given by the formula
𝑎1
𝑆=
1−𝑟

where 𝑆 = sum of the infinite geometric series

𝑎1 = first term
𝑟 = common ratio
= 𝑎2 /𝑎1 = 𝑎3 /𝑎2 = ⋯ = 𝑎𝑛 /𝑎𝑛−1
kapleocadio’22

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 Solving Word Problems

D. Harmonic Sequence
A sequence of numbers whose reciprocals form an arithmetic progression
is known as harmonic progression. In solving a problem, it would be wise to
convert all given terms into arithmetic sequence by getting its reciprocals. Use
the formulas in arithmetic sequence and take the reciprocal of resulting value to
obtain the equivalent harmonic term for an answer.

IX. Variation

Variation problems are problems in Algebra which show the relationship

between the variables in terms of expressions such as “directly proportional or
inversely proportion or simply proportional”.
The expression 𝑥 varies directly as 𝑦 is expressed as follows:
𝑥∝𝑦
The symbol varies (∝) is replaced by an equality symbol and a constant of
proportionality, 𝑘, hence:
𝑥 = 𝑘𝑦
The expression 𝑥 varies inversely as 𝑦 is expressed as follows:
1
𝑥∝
𝑦
The symbol varies (∝) is replaced by an equality symbol and a constant of
proportionality, 𝑘, hence:
𝑘
𝑥=
𝑦

kapleocadio’22

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