Gear up for success on the College Algebra CLEP exam with our comprehensive Prep Practice Exam! Whether you're a math whiz or need a little extra support, our resources are here to help you excel and earn college credit.

Practice this question and more.


The sum of two numbers is 17 and the larger of the two numbers is 3 times the smaller number. What is the larger number?

  1. 4

  2. 6

  3. 9

  4. 12

The correct answer is: 9

Let's call the two numbers x and y. We can write two equations to represent the given information 1. x + y = 17 2. x = 3y From equation 2, we can substitute x with 3y in equation 1: 3y + y = 17 4y = 17 y = 4.25 Since the larger number is 3 times the smaller number, the larger number is 3 times 4.25 which is equal to 12.75. Therefore, the correct answer is 12, which is option C. Option A is incorrect because it is not equal to 3 times the smaller number. Option B is incorrect because it is smaller than the smaller number. Option D is incorrect because it is larger than the sum of the two numbers.