VENN DIAGRAM WIRD PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS

QUESTION 1: Superburger sells hamburgers with the choice of ketchup, mustard and relish. One day they sold 256 hamburgers; 140 had mustard, 140 had ketchup, 84 had ketchup and relish, 62 had mustard but no relish, 68 had ketchup and mustard, 38 had all three condiments and 20 had none. (a) The number sold with relish only is? (b)The number sold with no relish is? SOLUTION: This problem would be best solved with a Venn Diagram. You should be drawing it yourself as you read along Draw 3 circles that all over-lap: Circle K: Burgers with Ketchup Circle R: Burgers with Relish Circle M: Burgers with Mustard Like so:

Now, we always want to fill Venn Diagrams with the most complicated information first. 38 had all three condiments. Put that number in like so:

Now fill in these pieces (I am going out of order on purpose to make sure we get it right): 84 had ketchup and relish; 68 had ketchup and mustard; 20 had none. Note: 84 had ketchup and relish. The total number in the section that overlaps K and R should be 84. 38 is already in that circle, so 84 38 = 46 should be in the remaining piece. 68 had ketchup and mustard The K and M overlap should total to 68 So, 68 38 = 30 should go in the remaining. Look: The 20 goes on the outside because it represents the burgers with nothing.

Now lets add these pieces of info: 140 had ketchup; 62 had mustard but no relish. The K circle should total up to 140 So 140 30 38 46 = 26 is the number that should go in the remaining K spot.

62 should be the total in the M but no R section There is already 30 in that section, so 62 30 = 32 should go in the M but no R section Look:

Now, use this piece of info: 140 had mustard In the remaining Mustard slot should go 140 32 38 30 = 40.

Now, for the final space. We know there are 256 total hamburgers So, we need to take 256 subtract all of the numbers to see how many are left for that last space. 256 20 40 46 38 30 32 26 = 24 Fill it in! Almost done:

The Venn Diagram is complete. Now we can answer the questions: (a) The number sold with relish only is? The number that is in the R circle but no other circle: 24. (b)The number sold with no relish is? Every number not in the R circle: 20 + 32 + 30 + 26 = 108.

Source: http://themathblogger.wordpress.com/2009/11/12/venn-diagram-word-problem/

QUESTION 2: Suppose I discovered that my cat had a taste for the adorable little geckoes that live in the bushes and vines in my yard, back when I lived in Arizona. In one month, suppose he deposited the following on my carpet: six gray geckoes, twelve geckoes that had dropped their tails in an effort to escape capture, and fifteen geckoes that he'd chewed on a little. Only one of the geckoes was gray, chewed on, and tailless; two were gray and tailless but not chewed on; two were gray and chewed on but not tailless. If there were a total of 24 geckoes left on my carpet that month, and all of the geckoes were at least one of "gray", "tailless", and "chewed on", how many were tailless and chewed on but not gray? SOLUTION: If I work through this step-by-step, using what I've been given, I can figure out what I need in order to answer the question. This is a problem that takes some time and a few steps to solve.

There was one gecko that was gray, tailless, and chewed on, so I'll draw my Venn diagram with three overlapping circles, and put "1" in the center overlap:

Two were gray and tailless but not chewed on, so "2" goes in the rest of the overlap between "gray" and "tailless".

Two were gray and chewed on but not tailless, so "2" goes in the rest of the overlap between "gray" and "chewed-on".

Since a total of six were gray, and since 2 + 1 + 2 = 5 have already been accounted for, this tells me that there was only one left that was only gray.

This leaves me needing to know how many were tailless and chewed on but not gray, which is what the problem asks for. Since I don't know how many were only chewed on or only tailless, I cannot yet figure out the answer. I'll let "x" stand for this unknown number of tailless, chewed-on geckoes.

I do know the total number of chewed geckoes (15) and the total number of tailless geckoes (12). This gives me: only chewed on: 15 2 1 x = 12

only tailless: 12 2 1 x = 9 x

There were a total of 24 geckoes for the month, so adding up all the sections of the diagram's circles gives me: 1 + 2 + 1 + 2 + x + (12 x) + (9 x) = 27 x = 24 Solving, I get that x = 3. Copyright Elizabeth Stapel 1999-2009 All Rights Reserved Three geckoes were tailless and chewed on but not gray. Source: http://www.purplemath.com/modules/venndiag4.htm