Garrett has one dollar less than three times as much money as Liz has. Together they have $179. How much money does Garrett have?

Answer 1

Let "x" be the amount of money that Liz has. Then three times that is "3x" and one less is "3x - 1" so Garrett has "3x - 1".

So x + 3x - 1 = 179

4x - 1 = 179

4x = 180

x = 45

So Liz has $45. Garrett has 3(45) - 1 or $134

Answer 2

G= Garrett and L= Liz

Putting words into symbols

G= 3L-1, G+L= $179

For the first equation 3 times L goes first because you want your number to be positive. Putting 1 first would make your number negative. This is how much money Garret has with respect to LIz.

For the second equation you are adding their total amount. Together is their total.

With these two equations you can solve either by substitution or elimination. If you need further assistance, please let me know. This is just the setup to get the answer