students was 150 more than the number of adults. Student tickets $3, and adult tickets $5. A total of $4730 was collected. How many students attended the play?

Question

I need help, ASAP!! It is for my math homework that's due on Monday. Please help. Please help

Answer 1

Let x = number of adults and y = number of students

From the description you can derive two equations:

y -x = 150

5x - 3y = 4730

Putting into matrix form:

[ -1 1] [x] [ 150]

| | = | |

[ 5 3] [y] [4730]

Adding 5 times Row 1 to Row 2:

[ -1 1] [x] [ 150]

| | = | |

[ 0 8] [y] [5480]

Which you can easily see that 8y = 5480 or y = 685

So 685 students attended the play.