Carnival Tickets

Question

A school is holding a carnival and hopes to raise $500. Child Tickets cost $3 and adult tickets cost $5. If the school sells  child tickets and  adult tickets, then the equation  expresses the fact that the school raised exactly $500 from ticket sales.

1. Solve the equation for x
2. Explain when it might be helpful to rewrite the equation this way.

Answer 1

3x+5y=500

x = 500/3 - 5y/3

If you knew how many adult tickets you were selling, then plug that number into the above equation and you know how many child tickets you need to sell to raise $500. x=166 2/3 - (5/3)y