In this worksheet, all the answers must be whole positive numbers or zero.
An equation with two variables involves two numbers which must be found.
"I think of two numbers.
When I double the first and add this to the second, I get 8."
Written using algebra, where a and b stand for my two numbers, we get:
2a + b = 8
This means that twice a added to b must come to 8.
a and b are whole positive numbers or zero.
What could they be?
If a is 0, b must be 8.
If a is 1, b must be 8 - 2 = 6.
If a is 2, b must be 8 - 4 = 4.
If a is 3, b must be 8 - 6 = 2.
If a is 4, b must be 8 - 8 = 0.
The results can be shown in a table:
a | b |
---|---|
0 | 8 |
1 | 6 |
2 | 4 |
3 | 2 |
4 | 0 |
There are 5 solutions.