a dresser has 5 shelves one shelf has x shirts and 4 shelves have y shirts what is the total number of shirts in the dresser

Answer 1

The shelves, in order, have:

1. x shirts
2. y shirts
3. y shirts
4. y shirts
5. y shirts

So total, we have : x + y + y + y + y

this can be re-written as x + 4y, because we have 4 y's.