Journey on the Silk Road

The tiles you chose for the emperor are packed in  4 crates that hold t tiles per crate. There are a total of 52 tiles. Write and solve an equation to find t.

In the 8th century, traders on the Silk Road brought silkworms from China to Spain. Today, the cities of Toledo, Granada, and Valencia are major silk hubs. Each silkworm produces about y feet of yarn. It takes  12 silkworms to make enough yarn for a shawl, which requires 3,840 feet of yarn. Write and solve an equation to find y.

Most trade on the Silk Road is done through bartering or trading of goods. But gold coins are sometimes used as well. You are bringing a total of 25 coins. Of those, 10 are gold and s are silver. Write and solve an equation to find s.

Caravans use camels and wagons to travel on the Silk Road. Your caravan consists of  6 wagons. That’s 1 more than ¹/₂ c, the number of camels. Write and solve an equation to find c.

The route you’ll take on the Silk Road is about 4,350 miles long. After traveling 1,865 miles across Europe and Central Asia, you will reach China. You will travel another m miles across China to reach Shangdu. Write and solve an equation to find m.

After goods arrive in Venice from China, many of them are shipped to other parts of the world from Venice’s port. There are w ships in port, with an average of 11 sailors per ship. A total of 36,300 sailors are in Venice. Write and solve an equation to find w.

Large caravans of Muslim pilgrims on their way to Mecca pass through Baghdad along Silk Road routes. There are 27,000 pilgrims in Baghdad. Another p pilgrims arrive from Egypt, for a total of 52,000 pilgrims. Write and solve an equation to find p.

The longest leg of the trip is from Samarkand to Shangdu—a distance of 2,560 miles. On average, camels travel d miles per day. It will take your caravan 128 days to reach Shangdu. Write and solve an equation to find d.

While traveling the Silk Road, merchants stay at guest houses called caravanserais. For a part of your route that is 175 miles long, you stay at c caravanserais. They are an average of 25 miles apart. Write and solve an equation to find c.

Chess was popularized on the Silk Road. A full chess set has 32 pieces. Of those, 16 are pawns. That’s 4 more than 3 times r, the number of rooks, which are the pieces that look like castles. Write and solve an equation to find r.

The Chinese are famous for their blue-and-white porcelain pottery. One stall in the marketplace has a total of 36 pieces of porcelain pottery. There are 6 bowls, v vases, and 2 times as many plates as vases. Write and solve an equation to find v.

Tea leaves are compressed into bricks and carried in waterproof pouches. Your camel can carry t pouches, each holding 3 bricks of tea. You buy 24 bricks of tea, which fill all the pouches. Write and solve an equation to find t.

Silk fabric is rolled into bolts, which each contain 20 yards of fabric. A stall at the market has 16 bolts of raw undyed silk to sell and b bolts of dyed silk. There are 540 yards of silk for sale in total. Write and solve an equation to find b.

Use any of the numbers from this story to write and solve your own algebraic equation.