How many points did each player score of the course of the season?

Question

Over a season in a women’s basketball league Jackson scored 43 more points than the second highest scorer, Leslie. Together, Jackson and Leslie scored 1165 points during the season. How many points did each player score over the course of the season?

Answer 1

Hi.

STEP 1:

Let's start by assigning letters to stand for each player.

J = Jackson

L = Leslie

STEP 2:

The problem tells us that Jackson scored 43 more points than Leslie. We want to express this mathematically:

J = L + 43

STEP 3:

We know that the sum of the points scored by the players is 1,165. Again, we want to express this mathematically:

J + L = 1,165

STEP 4:

Since we know that J = L + 43, let's substitute that for J in the equation used in step 3.

(L + 43) + L = 1,165

STEP 5:

Simplify by adding like terms on the left side of the equation together.

2L + 43 = 1,165

STEP 6:

Get the term containing L alone by subtracting 43 from both sides of the equation.

2L = 1,122

STEP 7:

Divide 2L by 2 so that L is alone. Be sure you also divide 1,122 by 2.

L = 561

So Leslie scored 561 points. Since Jackson scored 43 more points than Leslie, she scored 561 + 43 = 604 points.

STEP 8:

Finally, we want to double-check our answers. Does the number of points each player scored add up to 1,165?

561 + 604 = 1,165

We have the right answers!