Problema Solution

On August 6, 2009, the U.S. Senate confirmed Sonia Sotomayor, as the 11th Justice of the United States Supreme Court. With 99 senators voting, 37 more voted in favor her confirmation than voted against it. How many senators voted each way?

Answer provided by our tutors

Total no of senators = 99

Let us assume "a" senators voted in favour of Sonia and "b" voted against her.

Then,

a + b = 99 (1)

a - b = 37 (2)

Adding above two equations,

2a = 136

Thus, a = 136/2 = 68

Now from equation (1)

b = 99 - a = 99-68 = 31

Thus,

68 senators voted in her favour and 31 voted against her.