IXL | Guess-and-check word problems

A plumber bought some pieces of copper and plastic pipe. Each piece of copper pipe was 5 meters long and each piece of plastic pipe was 9 meters long. He bought 6 pieces of pipe. The total length of the pipe was 42 meters. How many pieces of each type of pipe did the plumber buy?

pieces of copper pipe

pieces of plastic pipe

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Learn with an example

question

At the zoo gift shop, posters of rhinoceroses cost $7 and posters of aardvarks cost $9. Mrs. Moore bought 4 posters and spent $32. How many of each type of poster did she buy?

posters of rhinoceroses

posters of aardvarks

solution

Use guess-and-check to solve the problem. Guess pairs of numbers that add up to 4.

Guess #1: 1 poster of rhinoceroses and 3 posters of aardvarks

Find the number of posters:

1 + 3 = 4

Find the total cost in dollars:

(7 × 1) + (9 × 3) = 7 + 27 = 34

The guess is incorrect. Try another guess.

Guess #2: 3 posters of rhinoceroses and 1 poster of aardvarks

Find the number of posters:

3 + 1 = 4

Find the total cost in dollars:

(7 × 3) + (9 × 1) = 21 + 9 = 30

The guess is incorrect. Try another guess.

Guess #3: 2 posters of rhinoceroses and 2 posters of aardvarks

Find the number of posters:

2 + 2 = 4

Find the total cost in dollars:

(7 × 2) + (9 × 2) = 14 + 18 = 32

The guess is correct. Mrs. Moore bought 2 posters of rhinoceroses and 2 posters of aardvarks.

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