Pauls school is selling tickets to a play.

Question

Paul's School is selling tickets to a play on the first day of ticket sales the school sold 5 adult tickets and 5 child ticketsthe school took in $42 on the second day by selling five adult tickets and 3 child tickets what is the price each of one adult ticket and one child ticket?

Answer 1

5a +5c = $42

a +c = $8.4 for 1 adult & 1 kid. Bingo. that's it $8.40 for 1 of each

but they throw in some other misleading, incomplete, distracting info to sidetrack you and even suspect there is no solution short of more information

5a +3c = s = 2nd date's haul< 42

subtract to eliminate one variable leaving

5c-3c = 2c = 42-s

c = 21-s/2 = price of children

a = 8.4 -21+s/2 = s/2 -12.6 = price for an adult

a + c = 21-s/2 + s/2 -12.6 = 8.4 = $8.40 for 1 of each, regardless of the value of s. how can that be? paradoxical at the least