Q. The schoolyard has 12 trees. The number of maple trees is 3 less than twice the number of oak trees. How many maple trees are there in the schoolyard?
Denote Oak Trees: Let's denote the number of oak trees as 'o'. According to the problem, the number of maple trees is 3 less than twice the number of oak trees. We can express this relationship with the following equation:Number of maple trees = 2× Number of oak trees −3Let's denote the number of maple trees as 'm'. So, we have:m=2o−3
Maple Trees Equation: We also know that the total number of trees in the schoolyard is 12. This total includes both maple and oak trees. We can express this with another equation:Number of maple trees + Number of oak trees = Total number of treesm+o=12
Total Trees Equation: Now we have a system of two equations:1) m=2o−32) m+o=12We can substitute the expression for m from the first equation into the second equation to solve for o:(2o−3)+o=12
System of Equations: Combining like terms, we get:3o−3=12Now, we add 3 to both sides of the equation to isolate the term with the variable o:3o−3+3=12+33o=15
Solve for Oak Trees: Next, we divide both sides of the equation by 3 to solve for o: 33o=315o=5So, there are 5 oak trees in the schoolyard.
Find Maple Trees: Now that we know the number of oak trees, we can find the number of maple trees using the first equation:m=2o−3m=2(5)−3m=10−3m=7So, there are 7 maple trees in the schoolyard.
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