On this blog you will find the answers to many different types of algebraic word problems including number, time and distance, mixture, finance, coin, age, lever, work, and plane geometric figure problems that I have problems set up for on another blog. I have a link to that blog below.
Sunday, November 25, 2018
Number Problem 15 Solution
A number added to five times its reciprocal is -6. Find the number.
Solution to the problem:
A number = x
Reciprocal of that number would be 1/x
5 times the reciprocal would be 5 * 1/x = 5/x
A number added to five times its reciprocal would then be x + 5/x
This then is equal to -6.
x + 5/x = = -6
Multiply by x...
x^2 + 5 = -6x
x^2 + 6x + 5 = 0
(x + 1 )(x + 5 )
The answer are -1 and -5.
Check
-1 + 5/-1 = -1 -5 = -6 Correct and
-5 + 5/-5 = -5 -1 = -6 Correct