Tips for solving problems involving two equations and two unknowns

There are many times in physics where you start with two equations and two unknowns. You can always solve for a set of problems if you have the same number of equations as you have unknowns.

In-process page: More tips will be added soon.

Of of the classic problems that is so common that we learn an equation that has already combined our position & time equation with our acceleration & time equation. The equation we derive assumes that you don’t know the time and one other variable. Our two equations are:

position & timeacceleration & time
Δx = vit + ½ a t2v = a t + vi

TI 83 or TI 4 series calculators

Graphing solution

Here are the steps for finding the intersection of two equations. Before you plug in the equations, they both need to be in the f(x)= function format. In the following example, the first equation is a momentum conservation equation, and the second is a kinetic energy conservation equation. Both are rearranged so x represents the final velocity of one object, and y represents the final velocity of the other.

  • TI 84 with y= and two equations
  • TI84 in the Zoom...Zstandard menu
  • TI84 showing ines for two equations
  • TI84 in the Calculate...intersection menu
  • TI 84 with first curve
  • TI84 with second curve
  • TI84 with a guess shown.
  • TI84 showing the intersection of the two equations