plants a combination of crocus and tuplips and planted 32 bulbs in total. she plants three times as many crocus as tulip bulbs. how many bulbs did she plant

Question

X=crocus

Y=tulips

Answer 1

Jess,

 

You want to start by making 2 equations, first to show the sum and another to show the relationship between the two. 

 

x + y = 32

3y = x

 

Now you want to substitute what you know: 

 

y + (3y) = 32

*now solve

 

4y = 32

y = 32/4

y = 8

 

And now you want to plug in what you know into the first equation to solve for x

 

x + y = 32

x + 8 = 32

x = 32 - 8

x = 24

 

Now you know: 

x = 24

y = 8

 

There are 24 crocus bulbs and 8 tulip bulbs