COLLEGE ALGEBRA

Practice Problems Solving Equations and Inequalities

Paul Dawkins

College Algebra

Table of Contents
Preface ............................................................................................................................................ ii Solving Equations and Inequalities.............................................................................................. 3
Introduction ............................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined. Solutions and Solution Sets ....................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined. Linear Equations ....................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined. Application of Linear Equations ............................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined. Equations With More Than One Variable ................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined. Quadratic Equations Part I ..................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined. Quadratic Equations Part II .................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined. Solving Quadratic Equations : A Summary .............................................. Error! Bookmark not defined. Application of Quadratic Equations .......................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined. Equations Reducible to Quadratic Form ................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined. Equations with Radicals ............................................................................ Error! Bookmark not defined. Linear Inequalities..................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined. Polynomial Inequalities ............................................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined. Rational Inequalities ................................................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined. Absolute Value Equations ......................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined. Absolute Value Inequalities ...................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

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College Algebra

Preface
Here are a set of practice problems for my Algebra notes. If you are viewing the pdf version of this document (as opposed to viewing it on the web) this document contains only the problems themselves and no solutions are included in this document. Solutions can be found in a number of places on the site. 1. If youd like a pdf document containing the solutions go to the note page for the section youd like solutions for and select the download solutions link from there. Or, 2. Go to the download page for the site http://tutorial.math.lamar.edu/download.aspx and select the section youd like solutions for and a link will be provided there. 3. If youd like to view the solutions on the web or solutions to an individual problem you can go to the problem set web page, select the problem you want the solution for. At this point I do not provide pdf versions of individual solutions, but for a particular problem you can select Printable View from the Solution Pane Options to get a printable version. Note that some sections will have more problems than others and some will have more or less of a variety of problems. Most sections should have a range of difficulty levels in the problems although this will vary from section to section.

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College Algebra

Solving Equations and Inequalities

Introduction
Here are a set of practice problems for the Solving Equations and Inequalities chapter of my Algebra notes. If you are viewing the pdf version of this document (as opposed to viewing it on the web) this document contains only the problems themselves and no solutions are included in this document. Solutions can be found in a number of places on the site. 4. If youd like a pdf document containing the solutions go to the note page for the section youd like solutions for and select the download solutions link from there. Or, 5. Go to the download page for the site http://tutorial.math.lamar.edu/download.aspx and select the section youd like solutions for and a link will be provided there. 6. If youd like to view the solutions on the web or solutions to an individual problem you can go to the problem set web page, select the problem you want the solution for. At this point I do not provide pdf versions of individual solutions, but for a particular problem you can select Printable View from the Solution Pane Options to get a printable version. Note that some sections will have more problems than others and some will have more or less of a variety of problems. Most sections should have a range of difficulty levels in the problems although this will vary from section to section. Here is a list of topics in this chapter that have practice problems written for them. Solutions and Solution Sets Linear Equations Applications of Linear Equations Equations With More Than One Variable Quadratic Equations, Part I Quadratic Equations, Part II Quadratic Equations : A Summary Applications of Quadratic Equations Equations Reducible to Quadratic Form Equations with Radicals Linear Inequalities Polynomial Inequalities Rational Inequalities Absolute Value Equations Absolute Value Inequalities

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College Algebra

Solutions and Solution Sets

For each of the following determine if the given number is a solution to the given equation or inequality. 1. Is x = 6 a solution to 2 x 5= 3 (1 x ) + 22 ? 2. Is t = 7 a solution to t 2 + 3t 10 =4 + 8t ? 3. Is t = 3 a solution to t 2 + 3t 10 =4 + 8t ? 4. Is w = 2 a solution to

w2 + 8w + 12 = 0? w+2

5. Is z = 4 a solution to 6 z z 2 z 2 + 3 ? 6. Is y = 0 a solution to 2 ( y + 7 ) 1 < 4 ( y + 1) + 3 ( 4 y + 10 ) ? 7. Is x = 1 a solution to ( x + 1) > 3 x + 1 ?

2

Linear Equations
Solve each of the following equations and check your answer. 1. 4 x 7 ( 2 x ) = 3 x + 2

= 6 ( 32 3w ) 2. 2 ( w + 3) 10
3.

4 2 z 3 5z = 3 4 6
4t 1 = t 25 5 t
2

4.

5.

3y + 4 7 = 2+ y 1 y 1
5x 6 5 + = 3x 3 x + 2 3

6.

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College Algebra

Application of Linear Equations

1. A widget is being sold in a store for $135.40 and has been marked up 7%. How much did the store pay for the widget? 2. A store is having a 30% off sale and one item is now being sold for $9.95. What was the original price of the item? 3. Two planes start out 2800 km apart and move towards each other meeting after 3.5 hours. One plane flies at 75 km/hour slower than the other plane. What was the speed of each plane? 4. Mike starts out 35 feet in front of Kim and they both start moving towards the right at the same time. Mike moves at 2 ft/sec while Kim moves at 3.4 ft/sec. How long will it take for Kim to catch up with Mike? 5. A pump can empty a pool in 7 hours and a different pump can empty the same pool in 12 hours. How long does it take for both pumps working together to empty the pool? 6. John can paint a house in 28 hours. John and Dave can paint the house in 17 hours working together. How long would it take Dave to paint the house by himself? 7. How much of a 20% acid solution should we add to 20 gallons of a 42% acid solution to get a 35% acid solution? 8. We need 100 liters of a 25% saline solution and we only have a 14% solution and a 60% solution. How much of each should we mix together to get the 100 liters of the 25% solution? 9. We want to fence in a field whose length is twice the width and we have 80 feet of fencing material. If we use all the fencing material what would the dimensions of the field be?

Equations With More Than One Variable

1. Solve = E 3v 4

2 for r. r

2. Solve Q =

6h + 4 (1 h ) for s. 7s
6h + 4 (1 h ) for h. 7s

3. Solve Q =

4. Solve A

1 2t 4 + 3t = for t. 4p 5p

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College Algebra

5. Solve y =

10 for x. 3 7x 3+ x for x. 12 9 x

6. Solve y =

Quadratic Equations Part I

For problems 1 7 solve the quadratic equation by factoring. 1. u 2 5u 14 = 0 2. x 2 + 15 x = 50 3. = y 2 11 y 28 4. 19 x= 7 6 x 2 5. 6 w2 w = 5 6. z 2 16 z + 61 = 2 z 20 7. 12 x 2 = 25 x For problems 8 & 9 use factoring to solve the equation. 8. x 4 2 x 3 3 x 2 = 0 9. t 5 = 9t 3 For problems 10 12 use factoring to solve the equation. 10.

w2 10 + w4 = w3 w+2
4z 5 6z + 5 + = z +1 z z2 + z 2 x 7 5x + 8 x+5 x+5

11.

12. x = +1

For problems 13 16 use the Square Root Property to solve the equation. 13. 9u 2 16 = 0
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College Algebra

14. x 2 + 15 = 0 15. ( z 2 ) 36 = 0
2

16. ( 6t + 1) + 3 = 0
2

Quadratic Equations Part II

For problems 1 3 complete the square. 1. x 2 + 8 x 2. u 2 11u 3. 2 z 2 12 z For problems 4 8 solve the quadratic equation by completing the square. 4. t 2 10t + 34 = 0 5. v 2 + 8v 9 = 0 6. x 2 + 9 x + 16 = 0 7. 4u 2 8u + 5 = 0 8. 2 x 2 + 5 x + 3 = 0 For problems 9 13 use the quadratic formula to solve the quadratic equation. 9. x 2 6 x + 4 = 0 10. 9 w2 6 w = 101 11. 8u 2 + 5u + 70 = 5 7u 12. 169 20t + 4t 2 = 0 13. 2 z 2 + z 72 = z 2 2 z + 58

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College Algebra

Solving Quadratic Equations : A Summary

For problems 1 4 use the discriminant to determine the type of roots for the equation. Do not find any roots. 1. 169 x 2 182 x + 49 = 0 2. x 2 + 28 x + 61 = 0 3. 49 x 2 126 x + 102 = 0 4. 9 x 2 + 151 = 0

Application of Quadratic Equations

1. The width of a rectangle is 1 m less than twice the length. If the area of the rectangle is 100 m2 what are the dimensions of the rectangle? 2. Two cars start out at the same spot. One car starts to drive north at 40 mph and 3 hours later the second car starts driving to the east at 60 mph. How long after the first car starts driving does it take for the two cars to be 500 miles apart? 3. Two people can paint a house in 14 hours. Working individually one of the people takes 2 hours more than it takes the other person to paint the house. How long would it take each person working individually to paint the house?

Equations Reducible to Quadratic Form

Solve each of the following equations. 1. x 6 9 x 3 + 8 = 0 2. x 4 7 x 2 18 = 0 3. 4 x 3 + 21x 3 + 27 = 0 4. x8 6 x 4 + 7 = 0 5.
2 1

2 17 + + 21 = 0 x2 x

6.

1 11 + 18 = 0 x x
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College Algebra

Equations with Radicals

Solve each of the following equations. 1. 2 = x 2.

x+3

33 2 x = x +1 39 + 3 x x

3. 7 =

4. x = 1+ 2x 2 5. 1 + 1 x =

2x + 4

Linear Inequalities
For problems 1 6 solve each of the following inequalities. Give the solution in both inequality and interval notations. 1. 4 ( z + 2 ) 1 > 5 7 ( 4 z ) 2.

1 1 1 1 ( 3 + 4t ) 6 t ( 2 + 10t ) 2 3 2 4

3. 1 < 4 x + 2 < 10 4. 8 3 5 z < 12 5. 0 10 w 15 23 6. 2 <

1 1 x4 6 2

7. If 0 x < 3 determine a and b for the inequality : a 4 x + 1 < b

Polynomial Inequalities
Solve each of the following inequalities. 1. u 2 + 4u 21
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College Algebra

2. x 2 + 8 x + 12 < 0 3. 4t 2 15 17t 4. z 2 + 34 > 12 z 5. y 2 2 y + 1 0 6. t 4 + t 3 12t 2 < 0

Rational Inequalities
Solve each of the following inequalities. 1.

4 x >0 x+3

2.

2z 5 0 z 7

3.

w2 + 5w 6 0 w3
3x + 8 < 2 x 1
4 u 3

4.

5. u

t 3 6t 2 6. >0 t 2

Absolute Value Equations

For problems 1 5 solve each of the equation.

3 1. 4 p 7 =
1 2. 2 4 x =

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College Algebra

3. 6u= 1 + 3u 4. 2 x 3 = 4 x

5.

1 z + 4 = 4z 6 2

For problems 6 & 7 find all the real valued solutions to the equation. 6. x 2 + 2 x = 15 7. x 2 + 4 = 1

Absolute Value Inequalities

Solve each of the following inequalities. 1. 4t + 9 < 3 2. 6 5 x 10 3. 12 x + 1 9 4. 2 w 1 < 1 5. 2 z 7 > 1 6. 10 3w 4 7. 4 3 z > 7

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