The student council of sta.Lucia high school needed 2,250 pesos for an annual trip.If five more members joined the group,each member would then save 5pesos. How many students planned to make a trip?

1 Answer
Jan 9, 2016

The answer is 45.

Explanation:

Let x be the number of students and y be the cost per student. The first sentence means x*y = 2250xy=2250. The second sentence means (x+5)(y-5)=2250(x+5)(y5)=2250. From the first equation one gets y = 2250/xy=2250x.
Substituting this value of y in the second equation gives (x+5)*(2250/x - 5) = 2250(x+5)(2250x5)=2250. Multiplying the factors on the left yields the equation 2250 + (2250*5)/x - 5x -25 = 22502250+22505x5x25=2250. Subtracting 2250 from both sides yields (2250*5)/x - 5x -25 = 022505x5x25=0. Multiplying both sides by x/5x5 yields 2250 - x^2 - 5x = 02250x25x=0.

By the quadratic equation, one gets x = (5 (+/-) sqrt(25 - 4(-1)(2250)))/-2x=5(+)254(1)(2250)2. So, x = (5 (+/-) sqrt(9025))/-25(+)90252 or x = (5 (+/-) 95)/-25(+)952. Since x can't be negative, it means the answer is x = (5 - 95)/-25952 or 45.