Linear equations word problems:

Practice Problems
1) Joe and Steve are saving money. Joe starts with $105 and saves $5 per week. Steve starts with $5 and saves $15 per week.
After how many weeks do they have the same amount of money?

2) Mike and Sarah collect rocks. Together they collected 50 rocks. Mike collected 10 more rocks than Sarah. How many rocks
did each of them collect?

3) In a classroom the ratio of boys to girls is 2:3. There are 25 students in the class. How many are girls?

4) Kyle makes sandals at home. The sandal making tools cost $100 and he spends $10 on materials for each sandal. He sells
each sandal for $30. How many sandals does he have to sell to break even?

5) Molly is throwing a beach party. She still needs to buy beach towels and beach balls. Towels are $3 each and beachballs are
$4 each. She bought 10 items in total and it cost $34. How many beach balls did she get?

6) Anna volunteers at a pet shelter. They have cats and dogs. There are 36 pets in total at the shelter, and the ratio of dogs to
cats is 4:5. How many cats are at the shelter?

7) A store sells oranges and apples. Oranges cost $1.00 each and apples cost $2.00 each. In the first sale of the day, 15 fruits
were sold in total, and the price was $25. How many of each type of frust was sold?

8) The ratio of red marbles to green marbles is 2:7. There are 36 marbles in total. How many are red?

9) A tennis club charges $100 to join the club and $10 for every hour using the courts. Write an equation to express the cost C
in terms of h hours playing tennis.

10) Emma and Liam are saving money. Emma starts with $80 and saves $10 per week. Liam starts with $120 and saves $6 per
week. After how many weeks will they have the same amount of money?

11) Mark and Lisa collect stamps. Together they collected 200 stamps. Mark collected 40 more stamps than Lisa. How many
stamps did each of them collect?

12) In a classroom, the ratio of boys to girls is 3:5. There are 40 students in the class. How many are boys?

13) Lisa is selling handmade jewelry. The materials cost $60, and she sells each piece for $20. How many pieces does she have
to sell to break even?

14) Tom is buying books and notebooks for school. Books cost $15 each, and notebooks cost $3 each. He bought 12 items in
total, and it cost $120. How many notebooks did he buy?

15) Emily volunteers at an animal shelter. They have rabbits and guinea pigs. There are 36 animals in total at the shelter, and
the ratio of guinea pigs to rabbits is 4:5. How many guinea pigs are at the shelter?
16) Mike and Sarah are going to a theme park. Mike’s ticket costs $40, and Sarah’s ticket costs $30. They also bought $20
worth of food. How much did they spend in total?

17) The ratio of red marbles to blue marbles is 2:3. There are 50 marbles in total. How many are blue?

18) A pizza restaurant charges $12 for a large pizza and $8 for a small pizza. If a customer buys 5 pizzas in total, and it costs
$52, how many large pizzas did they buy?

19) The area of a rectangle is 48 square meters. If the length is 8 meters, what is the width of the rectangle?

20) Two numbers have a sum of 50. One number is 10 more than the other. What are the two numbers?

21) A store sells jeans for $40 each and T-shirts for $20 each. In the first sale of the day, they sold 8 items in total, and the
price was $260. How many of each type of item was sold?

22) The ratio of apples to carrots is 3:4. There are 28 fruits in total. How many are apples?

23) A phone plan costs $30 per month, and there is an additional charge of $0.10 per minute for calls. Write an equation to
express the cost c in terms of minutes.

24) A triangle has a base of 8 inches and a height of 6 inches. Calculate its area.

25) A store sells shirts for $25 each and pants for $45 each. In the first sale of the day, 4 items were sold, and the price was
$180. How many of each type of item was sold?

26) A garden has a length of 12 feet and a width of 10 feet. Calculate its area.

27) The sum of two consecutive odd numbers is 56. What are the two numbers?

28) A toy store sells action figures for $15 each and toy cars for $5 each. In the first sale of the day, 10 items were sold, and
the price was $110. How many of each type of item was sold?

29) A bakery sells pie for $2 each and cookies for $1 each. In the first sale of the day, 14 items were sold, and the price was
$25. How many of each type of item was sold?
30) Two car rental companies charge the following values for x miles.
Car Rental A: y = 3x + 15 , Car Rental B: y = 4x + 100

a) Which rental company has a higher initial fee?

b) Which rental company has a higher mileage fee?

c) For how many driven miles is the cost of the two companies the same?

d) What does the 3 mean in the equation for Company A?

e) What does the 100 mean in the equation for company B?

31) Andy is going to go for a drive. The formula below tells how many gallons of gas he has in his car after m miles.

a) What does the in the equation represent?

b) What does the in the equation represent?

c) How many miles until he runs out of gas?

d) How many gallons of gas does he have after 90 miles?

e) When he has gallons remaining, how far has he driven?

32) Joe sells paintings. Each month he makes no commission on the first $5,000 he sells but then makes a 10% commission on
the rest.

a) Find the equation of how much money x Joe needs to sell to earn y dollars per month.

b) How much does Joe need to sell to earn $10,000 in a month.

c) How much does Joe earn if he sells $45,000 in a month?