Secondary 1 Mathematics

Chapter 5: Simple Equation in One Variable

Worksheet 1
Name: _________________________ Class: ____________ Date: ___________

Learning Objectives:
- Solving linear equations in one variable

Linear Equation

In this unit, we are going to learn simple equations in one variable and the equation will
be linear, which means the power of the variable is 1, (there will be no terms like x 2or x 3)
only x or numbers. For example, 2 x+1=5.

A linear equation is an equation of a straight line or a statement in one

unknown/variable in the form of ax +b=c , where a, b and c are real constants and

These are linear equations: These are NOT linear equations:

y=3 y −5 x 2−2=0
3
3(a+1)−a=5 t =8
b c
5
=3−b =6
4 2

Solving Linear Equations

The solution or the root of an equation is the value of the unknown that will make
the equation true. Eg: LHS=RHS

To solve an equation, we can perform reverse operation. The equation must be kept in
balance, which means we need to perform the same operation to the left-hand side as
well as the right-hand side.

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Example: 3 x+ 6=2+ x

Equation Operation
3 x+ 6=2+ x -
2 x+6=2 Subtract x from LHS and RHS
2 x=−4 Subtract 6 from both sides
x=−2 Divide each side by 2

We can check if x=−2 is a solution by putting it back into the equation:

LHS RHS
3 x+ 6 2+ x
3 × (−2 ) +6 2+(−2)
0 0

We can see that LHS=RHS. This means x=−2 is the correct solution.

Example 1

Solve the following equations:

a) x +6=14 b) 3 x−x=18

c)

Percentage
A percentage is a fraction with a denominator of 100 and represented by the symbol %

For example, Jason’s result in 2 exams is shown below

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 Exam A Exam B

Results 14/20 40/50

Percentage 70% 80%

We cannot say that Jason did improve by 16 marks in Exam B as compared to Exam A
as the total marks for the two exams are different. However, if we use percentage, it can
be seen clearly that Jason improved by 10% in Exam B.

Conversion between Percentage, Fraction and Decimal

Example 1
Express each of the following as a percentage.
15
a) b) 0.583
75

Solution:
15 15
a) = ×100 % b) 0.583=0.583 ×100 %
75 75
¿2 ¿ 58.3 %

Example 2
Express the following percentage as a fraction and decimal.
1
a) 35.6% b) 15 %
3

Solution:
35.6 1
a) 35.6 %= 15
100 b) 1 3
15 %=
¿ 0.356 3 100
23
¿
150

Expressing One Quantity as a Percentage of another

To express a quantity A as a percentage of another quantity B, where both A and B
must have the same unit, we have

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 A
x 100%
B

Example 3
a) Express 84 cents as a percentage of $1.40
b) An auditorium has seats for 475 people. If 38 seats are vacant, what percentage
of the seats are occupied?

Solution:
b)
Method 1:
No. of seats occupied = 475 – 38
= 437
Percentage of seats occupied =
437
×100 %
475
= 92%

Method 2:
38
Percentage of seats vacant = × 100 %
475
= 8%

Percentage of seats occupied = 100% - 8%

Example 4
A school has 15000 students. 75% of the students wear spectacles. Find the number of
students that did not wear spectacles.

Solution:
Method 1: Method 2:

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Comparing Two Quantities by Percentage

Example 5
There are 605 out of 1100 students who are male in School A. There are 667 out of
1450 students who are male in School B. Which school has a higher percentage of
male students.

Solution:
605
Percentage of male students in school A = ×100 %=55 %
1100
667
Percentage of male students in school B = ×100 %=46 %
1450
Therefore, School A has a higher percentage of male students.

Example 6
Andy scored 56 out of 80 for Math Paper 1 and 78 out of 100 for Math Paper 2. Decide
which paper he did better in.

Solution:

Reverse Percentages
In reverse percentage, the value of the resulting quantity is given, which is of a certain
percentage of the original quantity. Such problems are solved by relating the resulting
quantity to its respective percentage and find the original quantity, which is set at 100%.

Example 7
A new car falls in value by 30% in a year. After a year, it is worth $84 000. Find the price
of the car when it was new.

Solution:
70% of original cost = $84 000
84000
100% of original cost = ×100
70
5 = $120 000
∴ Price of car is $120 000 when it was new
Example 8
The population of a company was 1470 in 2018. There was 5% increase in the
population from 2017 to 2018. Calculate the population of the company in 2017.

Solution:

Percentage increase and Percentage Decrease

To find the percentage increase or decrease:

Increase
Percentage increase = × 100 %
Original Amount

Decrease
Percentage decrease = × 100 %
Original Amount

Example 9
a) There were 24 vans in the multi-story carpark in the afternoon. In the evening,
the number of vans increased to 36. Calculate the percentage increase in the
number of vans.

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 b) The price of a Nintendo Switch costs $480. If the price was reduced to $450, find
the percentage decrease in price.

Solution:
a) Increase = 36 – 24 b) Decrease = $480 - $450
= 12 = $30
12 30
Percentage increase = ×100 % Percentage decrease = × 100 %
36 480
= 33.3% (3s.f) = 6.25%

Example 10
The number of boys in a sports club is twice the number of girls. If the number of boys
decrease by 15%, by what percentage must the number of girls increase by so that
there are equal numbers of boys and girls in the club?

Solution:
Let the number of girls be x
Number of boys = 2x
85
New number of boys = ×2 x
100
= 1.7x
1.7 x −x
Percentage increase = ×100 %
x
= 70%
Therefore, the number of girls must increase by 70%

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Practice Exercises

1) Complete the following table

Percentage Fraction Decimal
45%

23.52%

0.68

3
1
4

2) Express the first quantity as a percentage of the second

1
a) 525m, 15km b) 3 years, 15 months
4

3) Find the values of the following

a) 17.5% of $15 000 b) 0.21% of 7000kg
1
c) 149% of 50cm d) 12 % of 20 liters
2

4) There are 500 blue and red cups in a container. 30% of the cups are small, 25%
are medium and the rest are large size. 20% of the small cups are red, 50% of
the medium cups are blue and 40% of the large cups are blue
a) Find the number of red cups
b) Find the percentage of blue cups
c) Do the red cups or blue cups take up a higher percentage?

5) Find the value of x in each of the following

a) 15% of x is 56.25
b) 125.5% of x is 2259

6) If 40% of a number is 580, what is 80% of the number?

7) At a fruit stall, there are 160 pears. There are 25% more apples than pears and
20% less apples than oranges. Find the number of apples and oranges at the
fruit stall.

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 8) The monthly expenditure of Mdm’s Ng family last month was $2840. This month,
their family expenditure increases by 9%.
a) Calculate their family expenditure this month.
b) Mdm’s Ng spend $199 on a watch last month. What percentage of the
monthly expenditure did Mdm Ng spend on the watch?
c) Mdm Ng bought the watch on a sale last month. The price of the watch is
decreased by 20% from its original price. Find the original price of the
watch.

9) Mrs Goh’s month expenditure was $2240 after she had reduced it by 12.5%. The
original monthly expenditure was 80% of her monthly income. Find
a) Mrs Goh’s original monthly expenditure
b) Her monthly income

10)The price of an air ticket is $750.

a) During the school holidays, the price of each ticket increases by 25%. Find
the price of each ticket during the school holidays.
b) During a sale, the price of the air ticket decreases to $570. Find the
percentage decrease in the price as a result.

11)The number of blue marbles in a box is twice that of the number of red marbles.
If the number of red marbles is increase by 40%, by what percentage must the
number of blue marbles be decreased so that the number of blue and red
marbles are the same?

12)To produce a doll, $15 is spent on the raw materials, $5 is spent on wages and
$8 is spent on overheads. If the cost of the raw materials and wages increases
by 10% and 25% respectively, while the cost of overheads decreases by 7%, find
the percentage decrease or increase in the cost of production of a doll.

13)60% of a company’s total expenses are for wages and 40% is for raw materials.
In 2016, wages increased by 5% and the raw material decreased by 15%.
Calculate the percentage increase or decrease in the total expenses.

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 14)
a) The length of each side of a cube is increased by 30%. Find the
percentage increase in the total surface area of the cube.
b) The volume of a cube is decreased by 27.1%. Find the percentage
decreased in the length of the cube.

15)The length of breadth of a rectangular plot of land are both reduced by 40%. The
1
length and breadth of the new plot of land are then increased by of their new
2
dimensions respectively. Find the percentage reduction of the area of the final
plot of land compared to the original plot of land.

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