How many rings and bracelets were bought?

Question

He bought silver rings at $5 each and bracelets at $8 each. If he bought a total of 19 items and spent $131, How many rings and bracelets were bought?

Answer 1

R + B = 19

5R + 8B =131

Multiply the first equation by 5 and subtract to eliminate R and solve for B.

Answer 2

Set up a system of eqns:

Let x represent the rings and y represent the bracelets

Eqn 1: 5x + 8y = 131

Eqn 2: x +y = 19

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Multiply the second eqn by -5 to eliminate the x variable

Solve for y

plug the value you get for y back into the second eqn to get the answer for x