Martina combined different amounts of water, vinegar, and scrubbing alcohol to make 38 milliliter a of a solution for a science experiment. The amount of vinegar was 8 ml less than that of water, and the amount of rubbing alcohol was half the amount of vinegar. This is represented in the equation below:

x + (x-8) + 1/2 (x-8) = 38

What was the difference in the amounts of water and rubbing alcohol Martina combined?

Question

Mathematics

Precious Adkins

18 March, 07:22

Martina combined different amounts of water, vinegar, and scrubbing alcohol to make 38 milliliter a of a solution for a science experiment. The amount of vinegar was 8 ml less than that of water, and the amount of rubbing alcohol was half the amount of vinegar. This is represented in the equation below:

x + (x-8) + 1/2 (x-8) = 38

What was the difference in the amounts of water and rubbing alcohol Martina combined?

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Answers (1)

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Eric Weiss · Answer 1

In the equation provided, x = the amount of water in the solution.

First of all, I would multiply both sides by two to get rid of the 1/2 to give 2x + (2x-16) + (x-8) = 76.

Because everything in the equation is addition or subtraction, we can simply ignore the brackets.

Then we can rearrange the equation to give 5x - 24 = 76. You can then add 24 to both sides to give 5x = 100.

Dividing both sides by 5 will give x = 20, therefore Martina put in 20mL of water. We then substitute this value to give the amount of rubbing alcohol which is 1/2 (20-8) or 1/2 (12) which is 6.

Therefore the difference in the amounts of water and rubbing alcohol is 20 - 6 or 14 milliliters.