You didn't tell us what you need.
They ask: How many pages must be in small type?
Assign a symbol to represent this unknown number, so that you can write algebraic expressions using the given information.
Let x = the number of pages in small type
Now, we can write stuff like:
the number of pages in large type = 21 - x
Follow that?
Next, we think of a relationship that must be an equality, like:
the total number of large-type words plus the total number of small-type words must equal 48000 words, yes?
The total number of words on each type page is a product: words per page*number of pages .
(In algebra and beyond, we text asterisks to show multiplication because the letter x is already used.)
We know how many words are on each type page because they told us: 2400 and 1800. We have expressions for the number of pages: x and 21-x.
the total number of large-type words = 1800(21 - x)
the total number of small-type words = 2400x
This is enough information to write an algebraic equation to model the relationship above (the one that says all of the words must add up to 48000).
1800(21 - x) + x = 48000
I hope that you were able to follow the set-up.
Can you now determine the value of x, that is, the number of small-type pages?
PS: I forgot to mention that we're assuming something. We're assuming that each page is completely full. In other words, each of the small-type pages contain 2,400 words and each of the large-type pages contain 1,800 words. Without this assumption, there is more than one correct answer. :cool:
