Math Models

Mathematical formulas model phenomena in every facet of our lives — they explain events and predict outcomes in fields from transportation to business to medicine. This chapter applies the equation-solving skills from Chapter 2 to word problems in a variety of real situations.

Sections

• Use a Problem-Solving Strategy — approaching word problems with a positive attitude, a repeatable strategy for translating them into equations, and applying it to number problems.
• Solve Percent Applications — translating percent statements into equations, discount and mark-up, and simple interest.
• Solve Mixture Applications — coin and ticket problems, mixing different-priced items, and mixing percent concentrations.
• Solve Geometry Applications: Triangles, Rectangles, and the Pythagorean Theorem — angles of triangles, properties of rectangles, and the Pythagorean Theorem.
• Solve Uniform Motion Applications — using $d = rt$ to solve distance-rate-time problems.
• Solve Applications with Linear Inequalities — translating phrases into inequalities and solving applications with them.

This chapter overview is adapted from Elementary Algebra 2e, Chapter 3 Introduction by Lynn Marecek, MaryAnne Anthony-Smith, and Andrea Honeycutt Mathis, © OpenStax, licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Access the original for free at openstax.org. Changes: condensed the chapter introduction and recast the chapter outline as a section list.