one basketball team defeated another by 13 points. The Total number of points scored by both teams was 171. Find the number of points scored by the winning team

Answer 1

We know the winning team's score minus the losing team's score is 13. We also know the winning team's score plus the losing team's score is 171.

Let's say W represents the winners and L represents the losers.

Now we can write it out as W-L=13 and W+L=171.

We need to solve one of our equations in terms of W or L

We'll solve W-L=13 in terms of W

add a L to each side so W-L+L=13+L

you end up with W=13+L

Now we take that value of W, 13+L, and plug it in for W in the other equation.

Doing so gives us 13+L+L=171

We can solve it now.

13+2L=171 (combine like terms)

2L=158 (subtract 13 from each side)

L=79 (Divide each side by 2)

So we know the losing team scored 79 points and the winning team scored more :)