I need help with the question in the description

Question

A father promises to pay his son $5.00 for each correct answer he obtains in his math homework.
For each incorrect answer, the son must pay his father $8.00.
The boy answered twenty-six math questions.
At the end, no money was exchanged.

Question:
How many correct and incorrect answers did he get?

How do you set up this math question to get an answer?

Answer 1

let x = number correct, so 26-x must have been wrong.

 

Money flow: 5x -8(26-x) = 0.  Do you see why this must be so?

 

All you have to do is solve for x.