COLLEGE ALGEBRA

1.) Mary, Peter, and Lucy were picking chestnuts. Mary picked twice as
much chestnuts than Peter. Boris picked 2 kg more than Peter.
Together the three of them picked 26 kg of chestnuts. How many
kilograms did each of them pick?
a.) 7,13 and 10
b.) 6,12 and 8
c.) 8,4 and 9
d.) 12,3 and 6
2.) The distance between two towns is 380 km. At the same moment, a
passenger car and a truck start moving towards each other from
different towns. They meet 4 hours later. If the car drives 5 km/hr faster
than the truck, what are their speeds?
a.) 22 km/hr
b.) 34 km/hr
c.) 12 km/hr
d.) 45 km/hr
3.) One side of a rectangle is 3 cm shorter than the other side. If we
increase the length of each side by 1 cm, then the area of the rectangle
will increase by 18 cm2. Find the lengths of all sides.
a.) 10 cm
b.) 4 cm
c.) 9 cm
d.) 7 cm
4.) To deliver an order on time, a company has to make 25 parts a day. After
making 25 parts per day for 3 days, the company started to produce 5
more parts per day, and by the last day of work 100 more parts than
planned were produced. Find how many parts the company made and
how many days this took.
a.) 29 days and 393 pieces
b.) 19 days and 240 pieces
c.) 23 days and 675 pieces
d.) 30 days and 356 pieces
5.) The lengths of the legs of a right triangle are 7 and 24. Find the length of
the hypotenuse.
a.) 84
b.) 31
c.) 25
d.) 97
e.)

62

6.) Expand and simplify:

a.)

x 31

b.)

x 3x 2x+ 1

c.)

x 3 x x+1

d.)

x 33 x2 + x1

(x1)3

7.) Reduce the following rational expression to lowest terms:

a.)

x +3
x +2

b.)

x +3
x2

c.)

x6
4

d.) X-2
2

8.) Simplify:

( x 3 y )(x2 y )2

a.)

x3
y

b.)

x3
3

c.)

y2
x

4
3
3

d.)

y2
x

1
3

9.) Simplify: 2 12 3 27
a.)

15

b.)

19 3

c.)

5 3

x 2 + x6
2
x 4

d.)

6 324

10.)
Multiply and simplify: (2x 3)(2x + 5)
a.) 4x + 4 x 15
b.) 2x + 4 x 15
c.) 4x 15
d.) 4 x 15

Solution:
1.) Let x be the amount Peter picked. Then Mary and Lucy
picked 2x and x+2, respectively. So
x+2x+x+2=26
4x=24
x=6
Therefore, Peter, Mary, and Lucy picked 6, 12, and 8 kg, respectively.
2.)

3.)

4.)

5.)

x= 72 +242
X= 25

6.) (X-1)2= ( x1 ) ( x 1 )( x1 )
=

( x 22 x+1 ) ( x1 )
3

= x 3 x +3 x1
7.)

8.)

(x2)( x3)
x3
x 2 + x6
2
= ( x2)( x +1) = x+1
x 4
2
3

1
2

(x y )(x y )

2
3

=( x y (

y 12
)
x2

y2
1

x3

9.) 2 12 3 27
=243393
=223333
=4393

10.)

= 5 3
. (2 x 3)(2 x + 5)
= (2 x) 2 6 x + 10 x 15
= 4x + 4 x 15