2.14 Getting Started (Word Problems)  Collect graded work  Pick up quiz and get started  Turn in quiz stapled to your HW  Pick up a textbook and take out your notebook

Turn to page 159 and complete problems # 1, 3, and 4. You may work with your group. Please note: Please note: you are not expected to come up with an equation for each problem right away; start with the guess-and-check method first to help you develop your equation writing skills. Check answers: 1. a. no b. noc. You solve (b + 4) + (b – 4) + (4b) + (b÷4) = 60; Chiko’s # is a. sample answer: guessing 60: so he wasn’t 60. b. sample answer: guessing 80: so he wasn’t 80. c. replace his age with n, simplify and solve the equation. d. Diophantus was 84 years old. 4. $70

Repeat the process until the steps become automatic. Let’s suppose our second guess is that Vanessa’s wage before her raise was $13 per hour.

The last line of the check gives you the equation 32w = 40(w + 2). Many algebra students like this method. Finally, generalize by making your guess a variable. Let w equal Vanessa’s wage before her raise. Apply the same steps you did before to w.

This method is a way to find the correct equation for any word problem. Finding the solution to some algebra problems can be difficult, but if somebody gives you a solution (or you guess), it is often easy to check if that solution is correct. If you keep track of your steps, you get a recipe for checking any guess. Write the following in your notebook: The Guess-Check-Generalize Method  Take a guess and check if it is correct.  Keep track of the steps you took to check if your guess was correct.  Apply those steps to a variable to find the correct equation.

1. Solve the equation 2. What is Vanessa’s wage before her raise? After her raise? 3. Recheck your result. 32w = 40(w + 2) Check your work: w = 15, Vanessa’s wage before her raise was $15 per hour, and $17 per hour after her raise. That is correct because she would make $480 per week before her raise, and now she makes $680 per week. If $15 per hour was her previous wage, then she makes $480 + $200 = $680 after her raise.

Tony says, “For my second guess, I try $2 and apply the same steps.

Write your own Guess-Check-Generalize steps in your notebook to determine the correct result for the problem. Correct answer: each bagel costs $0.55 Tony should have multiplied by 0.75, not 0.25, since a discount of 25% means you pay only 75% of the cost.

d = rtt = d/r This is a challenging problem! Try the guess-and-check process before writing an equation. The distance from Washington, D.C. and Boston is 450 miles. Time to Boston = time to D.C hours. Use d/r in place of each time. Solve for d.

Turn to page 165 to work on # 1 – 2 Turn to page 169 to work on # 1 – 3. Check your answers in the back of the book.