Okoye C.

asked • 09/15/14

A moving company weighs 20 boxes you have packed that contain either books or clothes and says the total weight is 404lb. A box of books weighs 40lb and a box o

Need help! PLEASE HELP!!

Okoye C.

Sorry about that....here's the full question.  A moving company weighs 20 boxes you have packed that contain either books or clothes and says the total weight is 404lb. A box of books weighs 40lb and a box of clothes weigh 7lb. write and solve an equation for how many boxes of books and clothes you packed.
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09/15/14

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Stephen K. answered • 09/16/14

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Okoye,
 
Let x = number of boxes containing books, let y = number of boxes containing clothes.
 
We know that x + y = 20 boxes
 
and 40x + 7y = 404 lbs.
 
use y = 20 - x and substitute:
 
40x + 7(20 - x) = 404
 
40x + 140 - 7x = 404
 
simplify:  33x = 404 - 140 = 264
 
x = 264/33 = 8
 
So we have x = 8 boxes of books
 
and y = 20-8 = 12 boxes of clothes.
 
Check:
 
(8x40) + (7x12) = 320 + 84 = 404
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