Maria and Tim sold candy bars for a fundraiser. Maria sold 7 less than twice the number of candy bars that Tim sold. In total, Maria and Tim sold 137 candy bars. How many candy bars did Maria sell?

Question

I need help with this, thanks!!!

Answer 1

for this problem, you would set up 2 different equations, with 2 unknowns, solve for one unknown, and plug it into the other equation. Each equation should represent one topic only.

1. Relationship between the Quantity of each unknown variable
2. M = (2)T - 7 Maria sold 7 less than twice Tim's
3. Relationship of the sum of the unknown variables.
4. M + T = 137 The sum of both the sales

Since M is already by itself in the first equation, let's use what it is equal to, and substitute that into the second equation so......

1. ((2)T - 7) + T = 137 Now you have everything in terms of 1 variable, solve for T next
2. 2T - 7 + T = 137
3. 3T - 7 (+7) = 137 + 7 (add 7 to both sides to eliminate the 7 on the left)
4. 3T = 144 then divide by 3 to isolate the T
5. T = 48 That is the answer for Tim, plug it into either equation to solve the quantity for Maria
6. M + 48 = 137, solve for M
7. M = 89

Put in the answers you got (M=89, T=48) into the original equations to check, and you are done! :-)