Problema Solution

Marie bought a total of 39 sweatshirts for her soccer team spending a total of $285. Some sweatshirts were large, the rest small. If the large sweatshirts cost $9 each and the small sweatshirts cost $7 each, how many large sweatshirts did she buy?

Answer provided by our tutors

Given:

total number of sweatshirts bought=39

total expenses=$285

cost of large sweatshirts=$9

cost of small sweatshirts=$7

find:

total number of large sweatshirts Marie bought

This problem can be solved by using two variables and two equations.

Let x=number of large sweatshirts bought

y=number of small sweatshirts bought

The two equationsare the following:

x+y=39

9x+7y=285

We can solve these equations by the substitution method:

x+y=39

y=39-x

9x+7y=285

9x+7(39-x)=285

9x+273-7x=285

9x-7x=285-273

2x=12

x=6

y=39-6

y=33

Marie bought 6 large sweatshirts and 33 small sweatshirts.