There are two basketball teams in a small town, the Miners and their opponents. In a particular game, the miners score twenty less than two times what their opponents score. A total of 127127 points are scored. How many points do the miners score?

2 Answers
Jul 10, 2016

Let the number of points scored by the Miner's be 2x - 202x20 and that of their opponents be xx. We can then state:

(x) + (2x - 20) = 127(x)+(2x20)=127

3x - 20 = 1273x20=127

3x = 1473x=147

x = 49x=49

Hence, the opponents scored 4949 points while the Miner's scored 7878. Quite a blowout!

Hopefully this helps!

Jul 10, 2016

The miners scored 7878 points.

Explanation:

Let's set up an equation.

Miners: mm
Opponent: xx

m = 2x - 20m=2x20
m + x = 127m+x=127

The first equation represents the number of points scored by the Miners with regards to the number of points scored by the opponent. The second equation shows the total amount of points scored is made up of the points scored by each team.

We've just created a system of equations. Let's solve for each variable and identify how many points were scored by the Miners.

First, plug in 2x-202x20 for mm in the second equation.

(2x-20) + x = 127(2x20)+x=127

Solve for xx.

3x - 20 = 1273x20=127

3x = 1473x=147

x = 49x=49

We've determined that the opposing team (xx) scored 4949 out of the total 127127 points scored. Now we must identify the amount of points the Miners scored.

Plug in 4949 for xx in the second equation, and solve for mm.

m + (49) = 127m+(49)=127

m = 78m=78

The Miners scored 7878 total points.